Mary "Ataloa" Stone McLendon was a Native American Chickasaw musician, storyteller, humanitarian, and educator. McLendon was an important figure in Native American arts education. She was a concert vocalist, known for her contralto voice. She was influential in the creation of the art department at Bacone College, serving as the first director.
Early life, education and performance
She was born c.1895 with the legal name Mary Kuth Stone, near Duncan, Oklahoma in Stephens County in Indian Territory. She one of four children born to William Stone and Josephine McLish Smith, her father was white and her mother was 1/4 Chickasaw. She attended Stone School, a small school named after her paternal family. Her maternal grandmother Nancy Love McLish Smith, named her "Ataloa", which in the Chickasaw language translates as "song", "little song", or "anthem". In 1917 she married Ralph McClendon at the age of 17, however he died a year later of the Spanish flu. She had been attending the Oklahoma College for Woman. After her husband died she moved to Redlands, California to be near her mother and brother. She graduated in 1925 from the University of Redlands. It was around 1925 she began using the name "Ataloa" or "Princess Ataloa" and started to dress in ceremonial clothing to emphasize her "Indianness". McLendon created this romanticized image of an "Indian Princess", in order to play to her mostly White audience. She gained popularity for her performances featuring Native American dance, and she was known for her contralto singing voice. She would tell Native American lore and legends, as well as conclude the events by speaking about the issues facing the Native American communities in her public appearances. After graduation she moved to New York City to continue her studies at Columbia University, and by 1928 she shares an apartment with Chickasaw actress Te Ata. McLendon referred to Ata as her "cousin" however its unknown if they were related or if they knew each other prior to living in New York City. She earned her master's degree in Religious Education from Columbia University in 1927.
Teaching
In the summer of 1927, she moves to Muscogee, Oklahoma to begin teaching at the only Native American college in the United States at the time, Bacone College. Initially she taught English at the school but McLendon raised money in order to build a new art building on campus. With the new building in place by 1932, fine art became part of the schools curriculum and McLendon served as the first director of the program. McLendon accrued Native American art, building an art collection for the school which was housed in the new building. When she left the school in 1935, artist Acee Blue Eagle served as the second art department director. She taught at the newly founded, Idyllwild School of Music and Arts from 1950 until 1963.
She died on November 11, 1967 in Santa Monica, California after a long illness. On the Bacone College campus, the Ataloa Lodge Museum is a building dedicated to McLendon. This is the same building built in 1932 by McLendon as an "art lodge" and classroom, it was later renamed in her dedication and it now houses a collection of Native American art work and historical artifacts. At the Idyllwild Arts Academy, on campus there is a marker in her dedication, an art studio named the Ataloa Art Studio and a nearby group of Sequoia trees were named the Ataloa Grove. East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma opened the Hallie Brown Ford Arts Center's Ataloa Theatre in 2009.
