Tsianina Redfeather Blackstone

From 1908 she toured regularly with Charles Wakefield Cadman, a composer and pianist who gave lectures about Native American music that were accompanied by his compositions and her singing.

She collaborated with him and Nelle Richmond Eberhart on the libretto of the opera Shanewis (or "The Robin Woman," 1918), which was based on her semi-autobiographical stories and contemporary issues for Native Americans.

While training in Denver, Tsianina became a mezzo-soprano virtuoso and met Charles Cadman, an American pianist, who later became her partner in touring and performing across the globe.

[3] At age 26, Redfeather joined American pianist Charles Wakefield Cadman on tour, giving recitals throughout North America.

[4] Beginning in 1908, Cadman conducted lecture tours speaking about American Indian music and performed recitals on the subject, including his own songs, and accompanied by Redfeather as singer.

They began touring and performing in the capitals of Europe and the Metropolitan Opera House with most of the major symphony orchestras in the United States.

Its contemporary plot was loosely based on Redfeather's semi-autobiographical stories of Native American life, and was set in California and Oklahoma.

Intended to promote archeological and ethnological research in the United States related to Native Americans, the institute was founded by ethnologist Alice Cunningham Fletcher.

[11] Amateur archaeologist Edgar Lee Hewett, who had achieved some status and donated substantial money to the school, was made director.

Redfeather mentions that there was a local practice where Native Americans were rounded into wagons and forcibly made to drink alcohol.

In the 1910 census records, it indicates that Redfeather briefly resided with her aunt & uncle, Laura and Alex Evans, before attending boarding school.

[14] Based on the timeline from her autobiography, David Balz was serving as one of Redfeather's agents during her Denver tour and was at least aware of the decision to not share telegrams regarding her mother's illness and subsequent death.

Redfeather's agents withheld this information so that she would complete a tour that was proving to be highly lucreative for them, attracting the most affluent critics and socialites to her novel performances.

She did not receive much profit from her illustrious career (even though she was exceptionally famous); but Redfeather was very altruistic and made sure to contribute to scholarships for children within the Muscogee Creek Nation.

Redfeather had two nieces by her brother, Robert Lee Evans, whom she mentions in the 2nd edition of her autobiography as living near her briefly when she resided in Colorado.

Redfeather also included a note regarding her tribal enrollment card #3612 along with her legal name "Florence Evans" to publicly validate her lineage as false claims of native ancestry became highly popular in the 1960s-1970s.

Tsianina Redfeather in 1917-1918.
Tsianina Redfeather Blackstone sings and Charles Wakefield Cadman plays flute for a recording between 1920 and 1925