Roberta Hill Whiteman
Roberta Hill Whiteman | |
|---|---|
| Born | Roberta Hill 1947 |
| Alma mater | BA, creative communication, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, an MA, University of Montana, PhD, American Studies, University of Minnesota |
| Occupation | Poet |
| Employer(s) | University of Wisconsin-Madison, various Poets-in-the-Schools Programs |
| Known for | Star Quilt (1984), Philadelphia Flowers (1996) |
| Spouse | Ernest Whiteman |
| Children | Jacob, Heather, and Melissa |
| Relatives | Lillie Rosa Minoka Hill |
| Awards | Wisconsin Idea Foundation's Excellence Award |
Roberta Hill Whiteman (born 1947[1]) is an Oneida poet from Wisconsin. She is known for the collections Star Quilt (1984) and Philadelphia Flowers (1996). She received the 1991 Wisconsin Idea Foundation's Excellence Award.
Early life and education[edit]
She was born Roberta Hill in 1947 into the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin. She lived with her family on the reservation and also in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Her father was a musician.[2] She attended local schools.
Long interested in languages and story, Hill earned a BA in creative communication from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, an MA in fine arts from the University of Montana, and a PhD in American Studies from the University of Minnesota.[2] Her doctoral thesis was a biography and study of her paternal grandmother, Lillie Rosa Minoka Hill, a Mohawk who was the second Native American woman to earn a medical degree in the United States. She married an Oneida man and in 1905 moved with him from Philadelphia to the Wisconsin reservation. Minoka Hill lived there for decades, operating a "kitchen clinic" in her home.[2]
Marriage and family[edit]
Hill married Ernest Whiteman, an artist. They have three children. He illustrated her first collection of poetry, Star Quilt (1984).[2]
Career[edit]
Whiteman has taught as a lecturer at numerous colleges. She has published poetry and essays on her work.
She has been an instructor for Poets-in-the-Schools Program at various locales, including Minnesota, Arizona, and Oklahoma. She is an Associate Professor of English and American Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.[2]
Writings[edit]
- Star Quilt (1984/reprint 1999)
- Philadelphia Flowers (1996)
- Works included in Carriers of the Dream Wheel: Contemporary Native American Poetry, edited by Duane Niatum, Harper, 1975; The Third Woman: Minority Women Writers of the United States, edited by Dexter Fisher, Houghton, 1980; and Harper's Anthology of Twentieth Century Native American Poetry, edited by Niatum, Harper, 1988.
- Dr. Lillie Rosa Minoka-Hill: Mohawk Woman Physician, University of Minnesota, 1998 (biography of her grandmother)
References[edit]
- ^ "The Poetry Foundation". The Poetry Foundation. Archived from the original on 2013-12-03. Retrieved 2013-11-30.
- ^ a b c d e "University of Minnesota's Voices from the Gaps". Voices.cla.umn.edu. Retrieved 2013-11-30.
Further reading[edit]
- Bruchac, Joseph, Survival This Way: Interviews with American Indian Poets, Sun Tracks/University of Arizona Press, 1987. ISBN 9780816510245
- Oneida Nation of Wisconsin people
- Native American poets
- University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts alumni
- University of Wisconsin–Green Bay alumni
- University of Montana alumni
- University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty
- 1947 births
- Living people
- Writers from Wisconsin
- American women poets
- Native American women writers
- American women academics
- 21st-century American women