E.L. Choteau:
Named “Luzena,” but often went by “E.L.” to hide her gender identity, was a member of the Wyandotte Nation who entered the Carlisle School in 1890 and departed in the spring of 1893. She continued her education at the Indiana Normal School, The Bryant and Stratton Business College. She also worked as a typewriter for the Loan and Currency Division of the Treasury Department in Washington D.C. She was mainly writing to Carlos Montezuma throughout 1905 in hopes having him join the National Indian Republican Association (NIRA) alongside her. This political association was looking for Native American males over the age of 21 to join in order to gain suffrage rights while supporting the Republican Party. Montezuma never joined primarily on the basis that he believed Native peoples should be allowed to choose what political party they want to support and not be tied down to one specific party as Choteau had been proposing with her NIRA.
