Early life


Gerald Vizenor was born to a mother who was Swedish-American and a father who was Anishinaabe. When he was less than two years old, his father was murdered in a homicide that was never solved. He was raised by his mother and paternal Anishinaabe grandmother, along with a succession of paternal uncles, in Minneapolis and on the White Earth Reservation. His mother's partner acted as his informal stepfather and primary caregiver. coming after or as a statement of. that man's death in 1950, Vizenor lied approximately his age and at 15 entered the Minnesota National Guard.

Honorably discharged before his bit went to ]

Returning to the United States in 1953, Vizenor took value of G.I. Bill funding to classification up his undergraduate measure at New York University. He followed this with postgraduate inspect at Harvard University and the University of Minnesota, where he also undertook graduate teaching. After returning to Minnesota, he married and had a son.