When nickels were Indians
Subtitle: an urban, mixed-blood story
By: Patricia Penn Hilden ; illustrated by Anne-Marie Hamilton.
Series: Smithsonian series of studies in Native American literatures
Publisher: Smithsonian Institution Press
Published: 1995
Place of publication: Washington
Language: eng
Number of pages: 259
Subjects: Hilden, Patricia; Indians of North America -- Mixed descent -- Biography; Los Angeles (Calif.) -- Biography
Description: Born in Los Angeles, a blue-eyed descendant of the Nez Perce band once led by Chief Joseph, Patricia Penn Hilden never looked the part - but she knew its contours. Escorted by her mother to the local natural history museums to view Indian artifacts under glass and even the preserved bodies of little girls, Penn Hilden nonetheless passed in white society, a "vanished Indian, and safe.".

In this memoir of her urban, mixed-blood experience, the author recalls her grandfather, a lingering presence and connection to traditions and people that rarely figure in mainstream American culture's notions of Indian identity.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.