The appropriate response to them is to acknowledge them clearly, to work carefully within what is actually documented, and to resist the temptation to fill the gaps with imagination or speculation.

She is compelling enough without invention.

Her documented life is remarkable enough without embellishment.

The gaps are part of her story too — evidence of who the documentary record was designed to preserve and who it was designed to overlook.

Her Name and What It Meant

Bíawacheeitchish.

Female Chief.

Woman Chief.