Marie Mason Potts

Marie Mason Potts (1895 – 1978) was a Mountain Maidu cultural leader, activist, educator, writer, journalist, and editor. She was an influential California Native American activist who travel lectured on tribal sovereignty, heritage, and cultural preservation. Potts had authored two books, "The Northern Maidu" and "Honey Run Bridge". She was also known as Chankutpan, "One With Sharp Eyes", and née Marie Mason.

Early life and education Marie Mason was born in 1895, in Big Meadows (now known as Chester), Plumas County, California. Her father was a minerals prospector of European-origins that had sexually assaulted her mother; and then left her as a single parent.

She attended the Greenville Indian School in Greenville, California, from 1900 to 1912; and the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, from 1912 to 1915. She wrote for The Carlisle Arrow, a student newspaper.

In 1915, she married her former classmate from Greenville, Hensley Potts (Concow Maidu), and together they had 7 children. Starting in 1942, the family moved to Sacramento, California. It has been reported as the earliest Native American newspaper.

Publications