Early Life
Wanrow was born in Inchelium, Washington, a city on the Colville Indian Reservation. In 1962, she graduated from Colville High School and got married. She and her husband had a son and a daughter, but the marriage ended in divorce in 1966. After her husband left her, she applied to the Bureau of Indian Affairs for a grant to study fashion design in San Francisco. She was one of the many American Indians who were encouraged by the Bureau of Indian Affairs to leave their reservations to seek success in America's urban centers at that time. This was part of the Bureau's assimilation process known as 'relocation'. The BIA did not allow her to take her children with her, citing the high cost of child care. After completing school, Wanrow had her children join her in San Francisco. Within a month of their arrival, her three-year-old daughter died of encephalitis. Following the tragedy, Wanrow reconciled with her ex-husband and moved with him and their son to Portland, Oregon. They had another daughter, but the attempt to reconcile didn't work out and she left him permanently, taking their two children with her to Washington state. Wanrow settled in Spokane, where the events leading to her rise to national attention took place.
Read more about this topic: Yvonne Wanrow
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