Anna Moore Shaw, (born 30 November 1898; died 18 April 1976) was a Pima storyteller, autobiographer and civic leader. She is the first Native woman to earn a high school diploma in Arizona.[1]
Biography
Moore Shaw was born with the name Chehia and was the youngest of eleven children of Red Arrow and Haus Molly.[2][1] She was raised on the Gila River Indian Reservation. Moore Shaw's father, nicknamed "the Unbeliever," was one of the last of the Pima to convert to Christianity before her birth.[1] Upon converting, he changed his name to Josiah Moore.[2] As Moore Shaw grew up, her father insisted she and her siblings learn English and attend boarding school. In 1908 she attended the Phoenix Indian School, where she was roommates with Helen Sekaquaptewa, a Hopi writer, for three years. At age 14, she met Ross Shaw at the Phoenix Indian School, whom she later married. In 1916, they were separated when Ross went to fight in World War I.[2] In 1920, Moore became the first woman to graduate from the Phoenix Indian School.[2] She married Ross Shaw, and they moved into his parents' home for a month, in accordance with Pima tradition.[3] She gave birth to and raised three children, Roderick, Adelaide, and William.[1][2]
During a visit with Carlos Montezuma, she was moved to challenge racial prejudice and countered racism in Phoenix by moving into white neighborhoods, joined the Parent-teacher association (PTA) and Church Women United, which previously had no people of color as members.[1][2] Church Women United became a large influence in Shaw's life. In 1958, Shaw became the first female elder in the Central Christian Presbyterian Church in Phoenix.[2]
Moore Shaw had begun writing down stories in 1930, when she realized they would otherwise become lost and wanted to make sure her children, raised in white society, knew Pima stories.[2][4] From 1950 to 1952, Moore Shaw studied Writing for Publication at the Phoenix Technical School. Her friends at Church Women United encouraged her to publish the book. She published it as Pima Indian Legends. Moore Shaw was then encouraged to write an autobiography. She wrote A Pima Past, with a focus on her Pima roots.[2][1]
Moore Shaw and her husband retired and returned to the Pima's Salt River Indian Reservation, where she immediately began community work to improve reservation conditions and daily life.[1] In the 1960s, Moore Shaw became the editor of the tribal newspaper, Pima Letters.[5] She founded the Aid to the Elderly program in 1966 to give back to the Pima elders through improved housing. She also taught Pima youth traditions of basketweaving and elements of the Pima language.[1]
^ abcdefghijLacy, Barbara Bayless; Hughes, Carol; McFarland, Lois; Payne, June P.; Roe, Sheila; Stevenson, Pam Knight (2016-04-29). "Anna Moore Shaw". In Warneka, Brenda Kimsey (ed.). Skirting Traditions: Arizona Women Writers and Journalists 1912-2012. Wheatmark, Inc. ISBN978-1-62787-406-9.
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