Viola Solomon and Henrietta Black

Viola Solomon and her daughter Henrietta Black were the primary sources for Geraldine Hegeman, Dolores Daigle, and Marilyn Daigle’s class project in the Fall of 1962. Mrs. Black recalled several Kluskap stories as told by her mother, and Mrs. Solomon was able to remember even more. Though both women spent considerable portions of their adult lives away from the Maliseet reservation in New Brunswick, they had both been born, raised, and educated on the reservation in Maliseet, New Brunswick. Mrs. Solomon preferred to tell the stories in Maliseet, as she felt telling them in English lost much of their flavor and humor. For most of the stories, Mrs. Black thus acted as interpreter.