Andrew Jackson Blackbird (c. 1814 – 17 September 1908), also known as Makade-binesi ("Black Hawk")[1], was an Odawa (Ottawa) tribe leader and historian.

The death of his brother, William, in Rome, Italy[3] on June 25, 1833, under suspicious circumstances as he was completing his studies for the Roman Catholic priesthood, left an indelible impression on Andrew and perhaps was the source of his intense antipathy for that religion from then on.

Blackbird was baptized a Roman Catholic by a priest called Father Baden in 1825, but later converted to Protestantism.

Samuel Bissell: I continue to attend the State Normal School at Ypsilanti, but am getting somewhat discouraged as to ever being perfect in the knowledge of English Language.

I shall always speak_ indistinctly ungrammatically for being so deeply rooted or stained with my own language....I have begun a grammar in the Indian tongue intended to write it upon the same plan in which our first books in Latin and Greek are written...And this I thought would be about as good that I can do for them, since I cannot personally do good among them, so at least, they can have my writings if not prohibited by their Priests...The last I heard of my father were still living but very old and feeble...Our school is let out on the 25th of July and vacation will last 10 or 11 weeks.

I should like to have gone to visit my people but I am considerable in debt, therefore I will have to work out somewheres here during the time, in order to pay up my debts.Blackbird was loyal to the United States during various uprisings.

During this time, Blackbird also worked with fellow advocate Louise Obermiller to substantiate and defend claims to land ownership and annuities on behalf of Odawa and Ojibwa bands in Little Traverse Bay and nearby communities in northern Michigan, stipulated in treaties signed with the United States government in 1836 and 1855.

[4] When the "Treaty With The Ottawa and Chippewa" was signed on July 31, 1855, Blackbird served as an interpreter, translator and official witness ([1]).

The book covers not only historical facts, but day-to-day details of how the Ottawa and Ojibwa hunted, fished and trapped before the coming of the whites.

In a 1900 publication,[8] Blackbird said: But I have heard white people say that the Indians might just as well die, for nothing can be done with them, as they will always be wild and savage and cruel.