Books by Nora Murphy
WHITE BIRCH, RED HAWTHORN
A Memoir
by Nora Murphy
University of Minnesota Press
A personal investigation into the multigenerational cost of immigration and genocide in the American heartland.
“Nora Murphy displays an incredible bravery: she asks hard questions and points out the elephant in the room. She creates language to say the things left unsaid.”
— Wambdi Wapaha, Sioux Valley Dakota Nation
“Murphy has accomplished the difficult task of writing from what she has learned of people, not about them. She has learned to love another culture yet understands it does not belong to her.”
— Heid Erdrich, Minneapolis Poet Laureate
“Nora Murphy sees what most Americans do not: that there is another way to see and be on this continent.”
— Kent Nerburn, author of Neither Wolf nor Dog
A personal investigation into the multigenerational cost of immigration and genocide in the American heartland.
Nora Murphy tells the story of her ancestors’ maple grove that, long before the Irish arrived, was home to three Native tribes: the Dakota, Ojibwe, and Ho-Chunk. That her dispossessed ancestors’ homestead was built upon another, far more brutal dispossession is the hard truth underlying Murphy’s search for the deeper connections between this contested land and the communities who call it home.
“This is conquered land.” The Dakota woman’s words, spoken at a community meeting in St. Paul, struck Nora Murphy forcefully. Her own Irish great-great grandparents, fleeing the potato famine, had laid claim to 160 acres in a virgin maple grove in Minnesota. That her dispossessed ancestors’ homestead, The Maples, was built upon another, far more brutal dispossession is the hard truth underlying White Birch, Red Hawthorn, a memoir of Murphy’s search for the deeper connections between this contested land and the communities who call it home.
In twelve essays, each dedicated to a tree significant to Minnesota, Murphy tells the story of the grove that, long before the Irish arrived, was home to three Native tribes: the Dakota, Ojibwe, and Ho-Chunk. She notes devastating strategies employed by the U.S. government to wrest the land from the tribes, but also revisits iconic American tales that subtly continue to promote this displacement—the Thanksgiving story, the Paul Bunyan myth, and Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House books. Murphy travels to Ireland to search out another narrative long hidden—that of her great-great-grandmother’s transformative journey from North Tipperary to The Maples.
In retrieving these stories, White Birch, Red Hawthorn uncovers lingering wounds of the past—and the possibility that, through connection to this suffering, healing can follow. The next step is simple, Murphy tells us: listen.
Other Books by Nora Murphy
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Knitting the Threads of Time - New World Library
In an era of global warming, war, escalating expenses, declining income, and drugs and violence in schools, many mothers feel they have little control over their families or their worlds. Nora Murphy eloquently demonstrates that many women do control one tiny thing: their next stitch. While tracing the frustrations and joys of knitting a sweater for her son through the course of one cold, dark Minnesota winter, Murphy eloquently brings to life the traditions and cultures of women from many backgrounds, including Hmong, American Indian, Mexican, African, and Irish. Murphy’s personal stories — about her struggles to understand esoteric knitting patterns, her help from the shaman of the knit shop, and her challenges sticking with an often vexing project — will appeal to knitters as well as everyone else who has labored to create something from scratch.
“A sweet memoir that’s quietly inspiring.”
— Booklist
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African American Stories in Minnesota, with Mary Gnatz - Minnesota Historical Society Press
This book for children features true stories about the lives and times of nine children and adults whose contributions to their state's history span nearly two centuries, from the early 1800s to the present day. These stories include accounts of family life, school days, chores, games and amusements, employment, escapes from slavery, and immigration. The twentieth-century stories include examples of experiences with racial discrimination and interest in civil rights activities, as well as events in the lives of a recent immigrant from Somalia and his family. Adopted by the Minneapolis Public Schools for sixth graders.
Adopted by the Minneapolis Public Schools.
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Cora’s Kids, with Sally Auger - Dream of Wild Health
A handbook on indigeneous seeds and healthy foods for children based on the true story of Potawatomi elder and seed saver Cora Baker who donated her life savings of heirloom indigenous seeds to Dream of Wild Health. Dream of Wild Health is a Minnesota based non-profit that works “to restore health and well-being in the Native community by recovering knowledge of and access to healthy indigenous foods, medicines, and lifeways. The organization operates a working farm, youth programs, community events, and also contributes nationally to indigenous seed preservation.
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A Hmong Family - Lerner Publications
Told through the eyes of sixth-grader Xiong Vang, this story chronicles his family’s dangerous escape from the hills of Laos to their new homeland in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A Notable Social Studies Book of the Year winner.
A National Notable Social Studies Book of the Year.
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Twelve Branches: Stories from Saint Paul, with Joanna Rawson, Julia Klatt Singer, and Diego Vazquez - Coffee House Press
What happens when a city gets together, not to read a book, but to write one? Twelve Branches: Stories from St. Paul began as an innovative, artistic project meant to bring together city residents from all ages and backgrounds to collaborate on writing a book—one that would ultimately result in this beautifully realized collection and serve as a lasting document for the city of St. Paul, Minnesota. To achieve this lofty goal, four accomplished writers gathered memories and histories from the community at twelve St. Paul branch libraries. Each of the twelve fictional chapters, grown from the stories told at the libraries and combined with historical research, is as diverse in style and content as the communities from which they sprang—from war to friendship and fire to fertility, these stories are tied together by the city itself. Finalist for the Minnesota Book Award.
Finalist for the Minnesota Book Award.