Jamake Highwater

Jamake Highwater (born Jackie Marks, also known as Jay or J Marks; 14 February 1931 – June 3, 2001) was an American writer and journalist of Eastern European Jewish ancestry who mispresented himself as Cherokee.

Jackie Marks was born on 13 February 1931 in Los Angeles to parents Martha (Turetz) Marks, then 27, and Alexander Marks, then 49; they were born in Philadelphia and New York City respectively.

His parents each had immigrant grandparents of Eastern European Jewish ancestry.

His father's Jewish identification was affirmed by his family requesting a Star of David for his military gravestone.

Alexander Marks was a veteran of World War I.

While living in San Francisco, Marks started a small dance company, the.

He was the principal director and choreographer from 1954 to 1967.

In the late 1960s, Marks assumed a pretendian identity, claiming to be Cherokee, and used the name "Jamake Highwater" for his writings.

As Highwater, he wrote and published more than 30 fiction and non-fiction books of music, art, poetry and history.

Marks moved to New York City around 1969 and started publishing professionally as J. Marks.

In New York, he started using the name Jamake Highwater and claiming to be Cherokee.

At various times he said his father was Eastern Cherokee and his mother, whom he called Marcia Highwater, was Blackfoot/French.

As Jamake Highwater, Marks wrote and published more than 30 fiction and non-fiction books, including children's books, and works about music, art, poetry and history.

Following his move to New York in 1969, Marks claimed his new identity as Jamake Highwater.

He said that he had been adopted as an Indian child from Montana by a Greek-American family and raised in Los Angeles (a variation he told was that the family was Armenian).

Another time he said that the Marks family had adopted him as a child.

In yet another version he said both his parents were Cherokee.

He reportedly graduated from North Hollywood High School, attended college in Los Angeles, and gained a PhD degree by the age of 20; this information was never documented.

Marks gave conflicting accounts of his purported Native American background.

He never said that he was enrolled in a Cherokee tribe, but that he had "recovered" his Native identity.

His children's novel Anpao: An American Indian Odyssey (1973) received a Newbery Honor.

His pseudonym "Jamake Highwater" appeared on Anpao: An American Indian Odyssey (1973), a children's book; and The Sun, He Dies: A Novel About the End of the Aztec World (1980).

In the 1980s, he was known nationally as a Native American figure.

His book The Primal Mind: Vision and Reality in Indian America (1981) was the basis of a PBS film documentary about Native American culture.

In 1981, Marks (as Highwater) published a non-fiction book, The Primal Mind: Vision and Reality in Indian America.

By this time, he had made many connections in the media world.

Between 1982 and 1983, Marks and his Primal Mind Foundation had received more than $825,000 in federal grant money from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), based on his claimed identification as Native American.

His claims of Native ancestry were strongly disputed by American Indian activists and intellectuals, who argued that his works were inauthentic and stereotypical.

They said that he had illegally received the grant money by misrepresenting material facts about his life.

Marks was exposed as an imposter in 1984 by Assiniboine activist Hank Adams and reporter Jack Anderson in separate publications.

Despite this, Marks continued to be widely perceived by the general public as Native American.

PBS adapted this book as the basis of a documentary about Native American culture, The Primal Mind (1984).

Marks served as the host of the documentary.

Marks "gained wide public exposure" as Jamake Highwater through making several documentaries on Native American culture for PBS television, and serving as host.

Marks's false claims to American Indian ancestry were explored and documented by Hank Adams (Assiniboine) in a 1984 Akwesasne Notes article.

He identified Marks's inconsistencies about birthplace and date, parents, college, and other biographical details.

Investigative journalist Jack Anderson followed up on Marks in 1984, revealing the inconsistencies in the writer's biography and ultimately, his pose.

In 1993, Marks was a consultant on the TV series Star Trek: Voyager for the character Chakotay.

Marks was responsible for verifying each script for accuracy.

Marks also wrote for The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians and the Los Angeles Free Press under the Highwater name.