Mary Stone McLendon

Mary Ataloa Stone McLendon (1896–1967) was a Native American musician, storyteller, humanitarian, and educator, who was a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation. She was a concert vocalist, known for her contralto voice.

Early life, education, and performance Mary Kuth Stone was born on March 27, 1896, near Duncan, Chickasaw Nation in Indian Territory. She one of four children born to William Stone and Josephine McLish Smith, her father was European-American and her mother was Chickasaw, with a quarter blood quantum. She is listed as 1/8th Chickasaw by Blood on the Dawes Rolls. She attended Stone School, a small school named after her paternal family. After her husband died she moved to Redlands, California, to be near her mother and brother.

After graduation she moved to New York City to continue her studies at Columbia University, and by 1928 she shared an apartment with Chickasaw actress Te Ata. Initially, she taught English at the school but she also raised money in order to build a new art building on campus.

Humanitarian efforts Prior to 1932, McLendon secured funds from John D. Rockefeller in order to build a Native American orphans' home in Muskogee, Oklahoma, which became the Murrow Indian Children's Home, still in operation today.

During the 1940s, McLendon worked with the War Relocation Authority in order to assist with the relocation of Japanese people living in the United States during World War II in internment camps. This is the same building built in 1932 by McLendon as an "art lodge" and classroom, it was later renamed in her dedication and it now houses a collection of Native American art work and historical artifacts.

At the Idyllwild Arts Academy, on campus there is a marker in her dedication, an art studio named the Ataloa Art Studio and a nearby group of Sequoia trees were named the Ataloa Grove.

East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma opened the Hallie Brown Ford Arts Center's Ataloa Theatre in 2009.