Biography

Stella M. Atwood (died 1939) was an activist for Indian rights.

Stella Atwood grew up in St. Cloud, Minnesota, where she helped her father study Native American religion and society from a young age. Atwood married and lived in Riverside, California for much of her life, where she organized the area’s first Parent Teachers Association (PTA). In 1917, she established the founded and chaired an Indian welfare committee in the General Federation of Women’s Clubs (GFWC), Southern California. Stella was the chair of the GFWC’s national committee on Indian welfare form 1921-1928. She formed a partnership with John Collier, with whom she campaigned against Indian mistreatment and religious freedom for several years. In 1928 she was appointed Legislative Advisor to the American Indian Defense Association. In 1937, the Blackfeet inducted her into their tribe and gave her the name “Guiding Star.” Stella died May 25, 1939.

Citation:

BYU Family History Library Newspapers, via WWW, October 27, 2020 (Stella M. Atwood)

An Unexpected Alliance: Stella Atwood, the California Clubwomen, John Collier, and the Indians of the Southwest, 1917-1934, 2009: p. 353-366 (Grew up in St. Cloud, Minnesota and studied Indians with father in childhood; she was married; she lived in Riverside, CA, where she formed the first Riverside PTA and founded and chaired an Indian welfare committee for the GFWC; Stella chaired the national GFWC’s Indian committee from 1921-1928; formed partnership with John Collier; became Legislative Advisor to the American Indian Defense Association in 1928; inducted into Blackfeet and was named “Guiding Star” in 1927; d. May 25, 1939)

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