E. Donald "Ed" Two-Rivers, sometimes known as Donald Two-River, was an

Anishinaabe The Anishinaabeg (adjectival: Anishinaabe) are a group of culturally related Indigenous peoples present in the Great Lakes region of Canada and the United States. They include the Ojibwe (including Saulteaux and Oji-Cree), Odawa, Potawat ...

( Ojibwa)

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

, playwright and

spoken-word Spoken word refers to an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a late 20th century continuation of an ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetics of ...

performer The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perfor ...

. Brought up first on the reservation and then in the urban Native community in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, Two-Rivers has been an activist for Native rights since the 1970s, for which he was awarded the

Iron Eyes Cody Iron Eyes Cody (born Espera Oscar de Corti, April 3, 1904 – January 4, 1999) was an American actor of Italian descent who portrayed Native Americans in Hollywood films, famously as ''Chief Iron Eyes'' in Bob Hope's '' The Paleface'' (1948) ...

Award for Peace in 1992. He is also an accomplished poet, who has, among other honours, been awarded the

American Book Award The American Book Award is an American literary award that annually recognizes a set of books and people for "outstanding literary achievement". According to the 2010 awards press release, it is "a writers' award given by other writers" and "the ...

in 1992. A critic of " victim politics", Two-Rivers is a strong supporter of programs that give disadvantaged Native peoples the chance to stand on their own two feet. He had been critical of

Euro-American European Americans (also referred to as Euro-Americans) are Americans of European ancestry. This term includes people who are descended from the first European settlers in the United States as well as people who are descended from more recent E ...

directors and actors in the past, saying that "I believe that for non-Natives to perform a Native American play, they would first have to undergo a certain level of

sensitivity training Sensitivity training is a form of training with the goal of making people more aware of their own goals as well as their prejudices, and more sensitive to others and to the dynamics of group interaction. Origins Kurt Lewin laid the foundations fo ...

. In fact, I would require it for any of my plays." E. Donald Two-Rivers was the founding ( Artistic Director) of the Chicago-based Red Path Theater Company. In 2007, he returned to Chicago, to work on his last book ''In the Spirit of the Coyote.'' He died December 27, 2008. In 2009, a mosaic inspired by his poem "Indian Land Dancing" was dedicated in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago.

Bibliography

Plays

*''Chili Corn'' *''Coyote Sits In Judgement'' *''Forked Tongues'' *''I Aint Tonto'' *''No Honors Today'' *''Old Indian Trick'' *''Peeking Out Of Ameriks Museums'' *''Pow-Wow Posse'' *''Red Requiem - A Political Intrigue On City Streets'' *''Shattered Dream'' *''Sunka Cheslie (The Urban Pile)'' *''Survivors Medicine'' *''Whats Buzzin Cousin?'' *''Winter Summit'' *''Briefcase Warriors''

Short story collections

*''Survivors' Medicine''

Poetry anthologies

*''Pow-Wows and Fat Cats'' Mammoth 2003, available at www.mammothpublications.com *''A Dozen Cold Ones by Two Rivers: Native American Poetry in an Urban Setting'' March Abrazo 1992

References

External links