By Dennnis McCaslin-Today in Fort Smith
Unless you are Native American or are deeply entrenched in the cultural and history of indigenous performers and artists of the early 20th Century, chances are the name "Atalie Unkalunt" probably means very little to you.
A largely forgotten native of what is now Adair County, at least until renewed interest in American Indian icons in the 1990's brought her to the forefront, Unkalunt's legacy has emerged to preserve her place in as a singer, composer, writer, artist, activist and fervent protector of the rights of Native Americans under treaties and tribal law.
Unkalunt, whose name translates from Cherokee to Sunshine Rider, was known as Josie Rider to her white friends. Born on a farm near Stilwell, in the Going Snake District of the Cherokee Nation Indian Territory, she was the daughter of Josephine (née Pace) and Thomas LaFayette Rider (Dom-Ges-Ke Un Ka Lunt).
Her father, Thomas, was a politician who served in various Oklahoma State House of Representatives and Senate terms. Thomas and his children, including Ola, Mary Angeline, Ruth Belle, Phoeba Montana, Mittie Earl, Roscoe Conklin, Milton Clark, Iva Josephine, Cherokee Augusta, and Anna Monetta Rider, are listed on the final Dawes Rolls for the Cherokee Nation, using their English names.
Thomas Rider was the son of Mary Ann (née Bigby) and Charles Austin Augustus Rider, who walked the Trail of Tears, and the maternal grandson of Margaret Catherine (née Adair) and Thomas Wilson Bigby. Josephine Rider, originally from Cherokee County, Georgia, was a white woman whose family fled Georgia during the American Civil War.
Thomas and Josephine were lifetime residents of Eastern Oklahoma. moving to Muskogee in 1920. Josephine died in 1923 and Thomas passed away nine years later of a heart attack. They are both interred in the Oak Gorve Cemtery in Stillwell.
Josephine was known for her singing voice, which greatly influenced their daughter's career choice.
Atalie Unkalunt's education journey included attending Central High School in Muskogee, Oklahoma, the Thomas School for Girls in San Antonio, Texas, and studying piano and voice in Muskogee with Mrs. Claude L. Steele. She also took a course in music expression in Chicago. In San Francisco, she starred as the Indian female lead in the film The Dying Race (1916) for the American Film Company.
In late 1916, Unkalunt enrolled at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, studying under Millie Ryan, Clarence B. Shirley, and Charles White. She also trained in literature under Dalla Lore Sharp at Boston University and studied ethics, logic, and psychology, while attending the Emerson School of Oratory. She completed her studies in 1918 and went to New York to train with the YMCA for services during World War I.
Stationed in France, Unkalunt worked as a secretary and entertainer for the troops for thirteen months, sending dispatches back to the local press.
Upon returning to the United States, Unkalunt moved to New York City in 1921 and began training with Millie Ryan. She performed at private functions, on the radio, and toured the country as a soprano. Her repertoire spanned operatic arias from Carmen, Madama Butterfly, and Natoma, to popular songs like "Dear Eyes" by Frank H. Grey and "Thy Voice Is Like a Silver Flute" by J. H. Larway, as well as Native songs performed in traditional costume and accompanied by a hand drum.
Unkalunt was celebrated as a prima donna, often billed as an "Indian princess" and recognized as one of the foremost Native American sopranos in the country. A 1924 promotional pamphlet praised her voice as one that "carried the perfume of roses on the wings of song." A reviewer from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle noted her performance as having a "clear, rich voice, sympathetic and well sustained."
Her career received a significant boost from the extensive press coverage between March 1922 and late 1923, which reported her anticipated role as Nitana in an opera of the same name, composed by Umberto Vesci with a libretto by Augustus Post.
The stereotypical narrative portrayed a noble Native warrior and an innocent maiden in a Native village facing the white colonizing hero. Though the opera was never realized, this coverage heightened her profile, leading to her portrait being painted by Remington Schuyler and featured on the September 1923 cover of Farm & Fireside.
Despite the attention, the project fell through, and a subsequent attempt to write her own libretto for a Native American opera, with music by Victor Herbert, remained unfinished due to Herbert's death in 1924. These setbacks led Unkalunt to focus on performances of Native and Indianist music rather than pursuing opera.
Driven by her desire to preserve Native American music and share it with a wider audience, Unkalunt navigated the constraints of public expectation and stereotypes. This often meant "playing Indian" to appeal to white audiences, as Native cultures were perceived to be dying.
To sustain her career, Unkalunt performed Indianist compositions, where white composers applied Western harmonic systems to Native melodies to "preserve" the music.
At the end of 1924, Atalie Unkalunt found herself entangled in a lawsuit with Lucie Benedict, the daughter of affluent art dealer George H. Ainslie. Benedict accused Unkalunt of stealing silk material, furnishings, and clothing from her father—items originally valued at $355 but described in court as worn and threadbare, worth about $10.
Reports indicated that Ainslie and his wife had met Unkalunt during a Greenwich Village Historical Society meeting at his gallery to promote Native American art. After Ainslie's wife passed away, he befriended Unkalunt, arranging for artist friends to paint her portrait and complete a sculpture of her.
When Ainslie's admiration turned romantic, Unkalunt refused his advances, prompting Benedict to accuse her of theft in an attempt to end her father's infatuation. Unkalunt testified that Ainslie, upset by her rejection, supported his daughter’s claims to hurt her.
In November 1924, Unkalunt was acquitted after Benedict admitted to planting some of the stolen items in her rooms. Subsequently, Unkalunt counter-sued Ainslie for defamation, seeking compensation for her legal defense and the loss of wages from forty canceled concerts due to the accusations.
During her trial, she testified that she was earning a living working as a secretary for the Tidewater Oil Company, assisting a real estate agent, writing, and receiving support from a benefactor.
In 1925, Ainslie won a change of venue for the case from Westchester County to Manhattan, leading Unkalunt to appeal the decision. By 1928, the case remained unresolved, and Unkalunt filed for bankruptcy, declaring an unliquidated claim of $250,000 from the pending lawsuit as her primary asset.
When Unkalunt arrived in New York City, she simultaneously started working for the New York City Board of Education. Between 1921 and 1923, she presented songs and Native legends in over 350 public schools. She also lectured for the U.S. Department of the Interior, giving presentations on Native culture.
In 1922, Unkalunt founded the Society of the First Sons and Daughters of America, an organization that only allowed authentic Native Americans as full members but accepted allies as associate members.
The society aimed to "foster cultural appreciation and influence legislation to benefit American Indians', whom Unkalunt referred to as "Amerinds."
She believed her mixed-race background allowed her to bridge two cultures, stating, "I have the strength and stoicism of the Indian, but the drive of the whites...and therefore [am] able to fight for what I want."
Described by Katie A. Callam as a "one-woman force promoting Native rights, particularly related to the arts," Unkalunt published articles in newspapers nationwide, promoting Native women and opposing government restrictions on Native religions and dance rituals.
She operated the Indian Council Lodge in a theater on West 58th Street for eight years in the 1930s, a private theater troupe that included actors like Chief Yowlachie and presented programs written and performed by Native people. The theater group was part of the First Sons and Daughters of America, which had nearly 3,000 members in 1933.
Unkalunt lectured and performed for women's clubs and community organizations throughout the United States.
She participated in the Wisconsin Dells Indian Pageant from 1924 to 1936 and various interracial music festivals.
She also organized Indian Day celebrations and Native dances, broadcasting musical recitals and educational programs about Native cultures via shortwave radio to audiences in Australia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, South Africa, and several South American locations, as well as on WJZ in Newark, New Jersey, and WRC in Washington, D.C.
In 1929, Unkalunt and other Native performers were invited to sing at the White House for the inauguration of President Herbert Hoover and Vice President Charles Curtis, a member of the Kaw Nation.
She performed again at the White House in 1934. Unkalunt's performances included popular works by composers like Charles Wakefield Cadman, Thurlow Lieurance, and Carlos Troyer, as well as more traditional Native melodies she researched at repositories like the Smithsonian Institution. She rarely performed Cherokee songs, possibly to protect her culture.
By the late 1920s, Unkalunt turned to interior design, making it her primary means of earning a living by 1931. She began exploring fabric art in 1927, exhibiting her designs at the New York City Art Alliance gallery. Some of her designs were produced by a manufacturing company, and a carpet manufacturer used her designs for floor coverings.
She turned the second story above her garage into a workshop for Native artists to produce textiles, carpets, furniture, and other handicrafts. Unkalunt exhibited her artwork at Douthitt Gallery and the Rehn Gallery in New York City.
In 1928, Unkalunt designed the offices of WMCA radio station, which occupied the entire tenth floor of the Hammerstein Theatre Building. The walls featured murals representing flight to symbolize radio broadcasting over the air. Vice President Curtis hired her in 1929 to decorate his private study at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, and she redecorated the home of Rosamund Vanderbilt in 1931.
Unkalunt published a collection of poetry and legends, "The Earth Speaks," in 1939. The book was praised for its lyrical depiction of Native legends and its blend of reality and myth.
In 1942, Nelson Rockefeller invited Unkalunt to Washington, D.C., to work in the science and education department of the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs.
She continued to produce content for newspapers and magazines, sing at women's and community group gatherings, and participate in programs sponsored by the State Department for Voice of America. In the early 1950s, Unkalunt became interested in the Indian Claims Commission's work, researching government archives to support attorneys working on Cherokee claims for breaches in treaty provisions.
Her organization, the First Sons and Daughters of America, continued to advocate for Native issues, with a membership of 2,400 in 1951.
Unkalunt died on November 6, 1954, at her home in Washington, D.C., after a heart attack. She was buried three days later at Cedar Hill Cemetery in Suitland, Maryland.
At the time of her death, she was remembered as an authority on Native American folklore.
