Jeannette Henry Costo (1908–2001) was an American activist, author, editor, and journalist. She co-founded the American Indian Historical Society (AIHS), and the Indian Historian Press publishing company.

Background

Jeannette Henry was born on June 27, 1908. She identified as being "born to the Turtle clan of the Carolina Cherokee," as Gretchan Bataille and Laurie Lisa wrote in the ''Native American Women: A Biographical Dictionary''. She ran away from home as a teenager, and was a police reporter for the ''

Detroit Free Press The ''Detroit Free Press'' is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, US. The Sunday edition is titled the ''Sunday Free Press''. It is sometimes referred to as the Freep (reflected in the paper's web address, www.freep.com). It primari ...

'' as a young woman.

Marriage and activism

In the 1950s Jeanette married Rupert Costo ( Cauhilla) with whom she co-founded the American Indian Historical Society (AIHS) in 1962. The AIHS was a cultural and activist organization. Its headquarters were named ''Chautauqua House'' and was located at 1451 Masonic Avenue in the Ashbury Heights neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The organization dissolved in 1986. At that time the couple donated many of the organization's library holdings to the

University of California, Riverside The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public land-grant research university in Riverside, California. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The main campus sits on in a suburban distr ...

(UC Riverside), and established an endowed chair in American Indian Studies at UC Riverside. In 1988, the Costos, both Roman Catholic, were vocal in protesting the beatification of Christian missionary

Junípero Serra Junípero Serra y Ferrer (; ; ca, Juníper Serra i Ferrer; November 24, 1713August 28, 1784) was a Spanish Roman Catholic priest and missionary of the Franciscan Order , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size ...

Writing and publishing

The couple also published several periodicals including ''Wassaja'' and the ''Indian Historian''. Additionally they had a publishing company similarly named the ''Indian Historian Press'', which published some 59 book titles. Jeannette Henry Costo wrote ''Textbooks and the American Indian''. She edited ''Indian Voices: The Native American Today'' and ''The American Indian Reader''. She also co-wrote a number of books with Rupert Costo, including ''The Missions of California: A Legacy of Genocide'' (1987).

Death

Costo died on January 31, 2001, in San Francisco, California.

Publications

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Costo, Jeannette Henry 1908 births 2001 deaths Activists from San Francisco American people of Cherokee descent