These works are as multi-faceted as their writer, who was a teacher, editor, public speaker, and campaign manager of mixed white, black, and Indian descent, born in New Orleans in 1875. Her pieces span the full range of literary genres - from short stories, fluffy romances, mystical novelettes, poetry, and autobiographical pieces to realistic racial drama, astute political commentary and essays, and lively newspaper columns - all bearing the stamp of her own cultural ambivalence and complex personality.