Public speaker, writer, and interpreter born in 1888 in Chekettaluk (Nunavut) – died in 1965 in Ashland (Kansas, United States).
Sarah Elizabeth Ford, also known as Lizzie Ford Blackmore, Anauta Ford Blackmore, Anauta Blackmore, or simply Anauta, was born on February 5th, 1888, in Chekettaluk, in the north of Baffin Island, in present-day Nunavut. She was the daughter of George Ford, who worked as an English-to-Inuktitut interpreter for the Hudson’s Bay Company from 1877 to 1908, and of Alea, whose surname remains unknown. Both of her parents were originally from Labrador, but George Ford was of English descent, while Alea is thought to be of Inuit descent. In 1906, Anauta married her cousin William Ford, with whom she had three daughters: Harriet Lavinia Ford (1910), Dorothy Jean Ford (1912), and Wilhelmina Watson Ford (1914). In 1913, shortly before the birth of the couple’s third daughter, William Ford died in a canoe accident off Cape Wolstenholme, where he had been hunting duck with a friend.
After her husband’s death, Anauta became the manager of the Ford Hotel in Twillingate, Newfoundland, where she worked for seven years. There, she met Harry Blackmore, the son of one of the hotel’s residents. They married on April 27th, 1920, in Indianapolis, Indiana (United States); Anauta moved to Indianapolis with her two eldest daughters, Harriet and Dorothy, while Wilhelmina stayed with family in St. John’s, Newfoundland. Anauta and Harry Blackmore had three daughters together, two of whom died in infancy, one from pneumonia, the other from a smallpox vaccine. Their third daughter, Mary Blackmore Buckner, survived.
In Indianapolis, Anauta Blackmore worked in a battery factory before pursuing a career as a travelling public speaker across the United States. Her lectures, which attracted large audiences, gave her the opportunity to share stories about her Inuit identity and her youth in the Canadian North. She spoke to a wide range of audiences, including schoolchildren, religious congregations, women’s clubs, students, Masonic lodges, and Kiwanis clubs; Kiwanis is an international volunteer organization dedicated to improving the lives of children and local communities through a variety of projects. Anauta’s lectures, which were widely publicized, allowed her to speak on the radio and drew the interest of many newspapers, which highlighted her success and described her ability to captivate audiences with her charisma and expressive body language. In her lectures, she sought to dispel stereotypes about Inuit communities while explicitly criticizing American culture.
In the late 1930s, in the course of her travels, Anauta Blackmore met Heluiz Chandler Washburne, an author of children’s books. The two women struck up a friendship which led to a literary collaboration: they worked together to write Land of the good shadow: The life story of Anauta, an Eskimo woman (1940). This autobiography, which recounts Anauta’s life as an Inuk woman, was intended to give American audiences a detailed insight into Inuit culture and lifestyle. However, there are inconsistencies and contradictions between Anauta’s account, as conveyed in her lectures and her book, and other historical sources, such as the Ford family genealogical records. Some claims she makes in her autobiography are questionable, including those surrounding the origin of her name, “Anauta,” the uncertainty of her date of birth and those of her daughters, as well as her childhood spent immersed exclusively in Inuit culture and language. Indeed, there are several sources that contradict these claims: “Anauta” is not her birth name; her date of birth and those of her daughters are known thanks to official records; and a photograph of her at the age of ten, taken in Newfoundland, shows her in European clothes. These discrepancies call into question the veracity of the autobiography and point to how certain facts may have been manipulated to appeal to the readership of the time. Since Anauta wrote her autobiography in collaboration with an American, there would have been an inherent power imbalance between the two authors which must be taken into consideration. Heluiz Chandler Washburne may have exerted control over the narrative and shaped Anauta’s story to meet the expectations of the readership of the time. Dale S. Blake writes that Heluiz Chandler Washburne’s desire to promote the idealized image of the “noble savage,” a popular stereotype at the time, may have distorted Anauta’s story. Anauta herself may also have been playing on these cultural stereotypes, highlighting certain aspects of Inuit culture to flatter her audience’s interest in Arctic peoples, whom they considered exotic. In any case, this work attests to the complexity of cultural exchange. Land of the good shadow was not met with much success upon its release. Nevertheless, this book made of Anauta Blackmore one of the first Inuk women to share her story with a wide audience. Her autobiography is also the first by an Inuk to be published in book form: the life story of the matriarch Lydia Campbell (Nunatsiavut) was not published in book form until 1980, when it was released under the title Sketches of Labrador life.
In 1952, Anauta Blackmore and Heluiz Chandler Washborne teamed up once more to write a children’s book, The children of the blizzard, published in 1952. This story follows the arrival of Ittuk and his family in an Arctic community after a blizzard. Ittuk befriends the village children. Through the four seasons, the story explores polar life and human relationships. According to the book’s blurb, it is based on true stories from Anauta Blackmore’s youth. In 1956, Anauta published her first book as sole author, Wild like the forest. The true story of an Eskimo girl. This book recounts the story of her mother, Alea, and her family, painting a picture of the lives of Inuit communities in northern Canada before the arrival of modern conveniences. Wild like the forest was translated into several languages, including French, under the title Aléa, fille des glaces, and Hungarian.
By weaving together her two cultures, Anauta Blackmore succeeded in creating a unique life and identity, combining elements of her heritage to carve out a place for herself in the world. Her story is a tribute to the intelligence and creativity of a woman who refused to be assimilated and chose to celebrate her Inuit identity. Her daughter Mary Blackmore Buckner mentions that, after she began to give lectures, Anauta Blackmore wanted to appear more Inuk than she was, so she kept her partly English origins to herself. Her stories, lectures, and talent for public speaking demonstrate the influence of Inuit myths and oral literature on her art.
Anauta Blackmore died of a heart attack on January 13th, 1965, in Ashland, Kansas (United States), where she was giving a lecture. She was buried in Indianapolis. According to Mary Blackmore Buckner, on the day of her funeral, so much snow had fallen that attendees had to travel by dogsled; this was interpreted as a final joke from Anauta, who was known for her humour and cheerfulness.