The Girl in the Photograph: The True Story of a Native American Child, Lost and Found in America

by Byron L. Dorgan

Overview

Through the story of Tamara, an abused Native American child, North Dakota Senator Byron Dorgan describes the plight of many children living on reservations—and offers hope for the future.

On a winter morning in 1990, U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota picked up the Bismarck Tribune. On the front page, a small Native American girl gazed into the distance, shedding a tear. The headline: "Foster home children beaten—and nobody's helping."

Dorgan, who had been working with American Indian tribes to secure resources, was upset. He flew to the Standing Rock Indian Reservation to meet with five-year-old Tamara who had suffered a horrible beating at a foster home. He visited with Tamara and her grandfather and they became friends. Then Tamara disappeared. And he would search for her for decades until they finally found each other again.

This book is her story, from childhood to the present, but it's also the story of a people and a nation. More than one in three American Indian/Alaskan Native children live in poverty. AI/AN children are disproportionately in foster care and awaiting adoption. Suicide among AI/AN youth ages 15 to 24 is 2.5 times the national rate. How has America allowed this to happen?

As distressing a situation as it is, this is also a story of hope and resilience. Dorgan, who founded the Center for Native American Youth (CNAY) at the Aspen Institute, has worked tirelessly to bring Native youth voices to the forefront of policy discussions, engage Native youth in leadership and advocacy, and secure and share resources for Native youth. You will fall in love with this heartbreaking story, but end the book knowing what can be done and what you can do.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250173645
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	11/26/2019
Pages:	208
Sales rank:	455,283
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

BYRON L. DORGAN served as a U.S. congressman and senator for North Dakota for thirty years before retiring in January 2011. He was chairman of Senate Committees and Subcommittees on the issues of Energy, Aviation, Appropriations, Water Policy, and Indian Affairs. Senator Dorgan is the author of the New York Times bestseller Take This Job and Ship It. When he retired from the U.S. Senate, he created the Center for Native American Youth (CNAY) to work on teen suicide prevention, education opportunity and more for children living on Indian reservations.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. The Lost Girl
2. A People Under Siege
3. The Kindness of a Stranger
4. There’s Little Care in This Health Care System
5. Teach the Children Well
6. Justice Is a Stranger Here
7. The Next Generation of Leaders
8. Leadership
9. Defenders of the Earth
10. The Arc of the Moral Universe Is Bending Toward Justice
11. New Opportunities
What You Can Do

Editorial Reviews

09/09/2019

In this poignant account, former senator Dorgan connects the tale of an abused girl on the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota to the larger story of the U.S. government’s mistreatment of Native Americans. Dorgan first encountered five-year-old Tamara (no last name is given) in 1990, when her photograph appeared in a Bismarck Tribune story about the beating she endured in a reservation foster home. The next weekend, Dorgan writes, he traveled from Washington, D.C., to Standing Rock to meet Tamara. But he soon lost track of her. Twenty-seven years later, she reached out to him on social media. Dorgan uses the harrowing details of Tamara’s life story—which includes sexual abuse, homelessness, untreated PTSD, and attempted suicide—to put a human face on the plight of indigenous Americans in general. Among many shocking statistics, he notes that the federal government allocates less healthcare funding per Native person than per incarcerated person. On a more positive note, Dorgan profiles young Native American leaders, such as Mariah Gladstone, whose Indigikitchen project promotes traditional foodways as a means to improving Native Americans’ health. Dorgan’s plea for change serves as an informative and moving introduction to a great injustice. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

"Dorgan tells Tamara's story against the backdrop of the epic struggles and historic mistreatment of American Indians. It’s hard not to see a parallel between the sins committed against Tamara over the past three decades and the litany of sins committed against Native Americans — genocide, theft, discrimination, abandonment — that began centuries ago and continues to this day. It is also a call to action. In each chapter, Dorgan presents a problem faced by Native Americans that seems intractable and then offers examples of individuals or tribes that have succeeded despite the enormous challenges."
—The Washington Post

"As he tells the harrowing, yet inspiring story of one young Native American girl, Senator Dorgan describes the nearly two centuries of shameful treatment of American Indians, much of which continues today."
—Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Council of Chiefs, Northern Cheyenne Indian Tribe

“Please read this book! The Girl in the Photograph is one of the most important civil rights books written in this century. It examines, in full detail, through the life of one young woman, the horrific conditions in which many Native American children live in a country that once belonged to their ancestors. Once you recover from your shock, the author gives you an opportunity to participate in the change that will restore opportunity and justice to the precious children of our first Americans.”
—Senator Heidi Heitkamp

“Byron Dorgan has written an important book, with compassion and understanding about the struggle of a courageous Native American girl and her people. It is a poignant story describing the challenging life of a young Native American child who, against all odds, is a survivor.”
—Walter Isaacson, New York Times bestselling author

"This book is a poignant, tough and brutally honest story about a Native American girl named Tamara and the conditions that confront too many children on Indian reservations. It is a story of survival, and it also tells the inspiring stories of youth helping bring change to the reservations."
—Anita Fineday, Former Chief Judge, White Earth Tribal Nation

"[A] poignant account...Dorgan's plea for change serves as an informative and moving introduction to a great injustice."
—Publishers Weekly

"A worthwhile read that serves as a reminder of the government’s broken promises and treaties with Native Americans. Tamara’s story doesn’t have a happy ending yet, but there’s hope. However, the nation’s reservations need more than hope; they need action that’s more prompt. In the end, Dorgan’s book is a call to action. It’s time the Tamaras of the reservations get help."
—The Bismarck Tribune

From the Publisher

2019-08-26
A sober and sobering testimonial about the devastating consequences of the United States government's broken promises to the Native American community.

Former North Dakota Sen. Dorgan (Reckless!: How Debt, Deregulation, and Dark Money Nearly Bankrupted America (And How We Can Fix It!), 2009, etc.) continues his post-office advocacy work with this grim exposé. The central figure is Tamara, a young woman from the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. Her biography distills hundreds of years of institutional dishonesty, incompetence, and malevolence, which have left the Native American community's well-being far behind that of other American demographics. Dorgan first encountered Tamara through a newspaper story in 1990. Her parents were abusive alcoholics, and at age 2, she was placed in a foster home where she was beaten nearly to death. The author launched an investigation into the reservation's child welfare system, which yielded alarming facts but left much work still to be done. This book, he explicitly hopes, will inspire readers to action. Dorgan gradually reveals Tamara's story, which exemplifies many of the most pressing concerns confronting Native Americans. Each phase of her life becomes an intimate entrance point by which to analyze a particular systemic failing. The author looks into the history and current state of issues, including child welfare, health care, education, and justice. He details problems like generational trauma, environmental degradation, and land theft while highlighting leadership within the community and offering recommendations for a brighter future. The text is well organized, balancing personal anecdotes with history and hard data. Many of the statistics, though, lack citations that would further bolster the author's credibility among skeptics. Dorgan confronts difficult realities with unblinking sensitivity and an infusion of hope. Policy change is his undisguised intention, so the authorial voice is that of a politician persuading his constituency.

Simultaneously appalling and optimistic, this book will enlist many sympathetic readers to the cause of Native rights.

Kirkus Reviews

09/13/2019

While serving North Dakota in Congress in 1990, Dorgan (Take This Job and Ship It) encountered an article in the Bismarck Tribune about a Native American girl named Tamara who experienced abuse while in foster care. He was profoundly moved, especially by the accompanying photograph showing Tamara with a single tear running down her face. Angered by the account, Dorgan traveled to the Standing Rock Reservation where he met Tamara and her grandfather. During the visit, he learned about the dire condition of the reservation's child welfare system from tribal elders. He remained in touch with Tamara until her grandfather died. Remarkably, they reestablished contact nearly three decades later when he received a message from her online. Dorgan would learn the rest of Tamara's story, including her struggles with homelessness and PTSD as an adult. In recounting her story, Dorgan also explores the conditions faced by Native children throughout the United States, including poverty, hunger, crime, and abuse. Dorgan depicts several young Native leaders who are intent on making change and provides resources and organizations for those who wish to help.

VERDICT A passionate, heartfelt account that will heighten our awareness of an important issue.—Dave Pugl, Ela Area P.L., Lake Zurich, IL

Library Journal

Read More