Guests Never Leave Hungry : The Autobiography of James Sewid, a Kwakiutl Indi...

The story of James Sewid, a twentieth-century Kwakiutl Indian Chieftain, brings to life the experience of one man caught in conflict as the traditional Kwakiutl culture gave way to the demands of an expanding Western society in British Columbia. Born in 1910 into a rapidly disintegrating Indian culture, Sewid as a young child received unusually intensive training and special treatment from his elders because he was their heir to many "names," which he early learned carried great responsibility with them. In spite of poverty, illiteracy, family breakdown, and social conflict, he emerged as a leader of the progressive Indians of the Kwakiutl Reserve in Alert Bay, becoming their first elected chief when the traditional system of hereditary chiefs was replaced.