((Disclaimer: I’m Metis (First Nations Canadian), before I get remarks))

1) Ilvermorny was not a boarding school at first. It is the only Wizarding School in the world that (we know for sure) didn’t start as a Boarding School. It says specifically that while they have houses, only Isolt and James’ children lived at the school. It stayed this way until after the school’s reputation had already made it to Europe.

I’m from Canada, I know the incredibly tragic history of Boarding Schools and Native Americans. But there is a big difference between those forced decimations of culture, and a school imitating Hogwarts. I, as a Native American, wanted to go to Hogwarts. I also wish I went to Ilvermorny. That said, the bulk of American wizards are homeschooled, what part of that spells “native kids forced to go to Ilvermorny”?



2) She did research, and had consultants. No need for exaggeration.



3) JK Rowling did not make any mention to Native American’s (Or Native Wizard/Witches’s) goverment, laws, economy, roads or trade. “Native Americans” encompasses many many cultures, many of which warred with each other, and not all fit your description. Inuit for example, were mostly Nomadic (and a large number still are today, which is getting screwed over by Canadian laws that assume people have a set property) They didn’t and don’t have most of the things you listed, and that misinformation doesn’t help them.



4) JKR decided that because there are no wand myths in anything but European, Greek, and Egyptian mythology, every other culture didn’t use wands. They use wandless magic (which is more advanced because it is more difficult), or sometimes magical items like staves, scepters, and weapons. This includes South American, Japanese, and African (with the exception of Egypt).



5) She may include Onondaga fire magic or Aztec mystics. We don’t know. There are so many different Native Cultures, that yes - some could be doing that magic. Others would be doing entirely different things. She could write us up an entire course on the many different magics she could include, but, I guarantee you even more Native Americans would be doing what they are doing now - being enraged at their culture is being mentioned at all. Others the opposite, more like you, angry that they aren’t being specifically named and given more information.

She hasn’t given us any clear specifics(probably because you can’t, with so many different cultures) other than the fact that they were far superior at Potions than anything the colonists had ever seen.



6) She didn’t take tools away, she hasn’t spoken about their magical objects and weapons yet. All she said was no wands - which are only good for charms and transfig. Maybe their magical items were a reason why they were superior at everything else. What you suggest may already be canon. Ofcourse, depending on the culture. Not all Native Americans would use the same ones, some may not use any and instead use talismans and charms. Who knows.



7) She hasn’t mentioned pipes, she’s hardly mentioned any specifics. I also think she shouldn’t.



8) If a girl runs into the woods in 1620 in Massachusetts she can easily avoid people. “…her journey aboard the Mayflower had led her to deduce that a witch was unlikely to find many friends among the Puritans.Isolt was now quite alone in a harsh, foreign country and, as far as she knew, the only witch for hundreds if not thousands of miles – her partial education by Gormlaith had not included information about Native American wizards. However, after several weeks alone in the mountains, she met two magical creatures of whose existence she had hitherto been ignorant.”(Pottermore) She was scared, and avoided people for several weeks in the mountains. You can do that today.



9) You said- “Don’t pretend that American societies are going to be as backward and prejudiced as other places. Most American languages didn’t have gendered pronouns. American cultures did not have the institutional patriarchal bullshit or homophobia. We would probably be pretty accepting of people that could do magic.”

She said- “[European witches and wizards] sought to blend in among the increasing tide of No-Majs, or hide among the Native American wizarding population, who were generally welcoming and protective of their European brethren.”(Pottermore) She then went on to list the 3 threats to the colonist witches and wizards. All of which were also colonists.



10) I also hope she does Magical clans. it would be tough, because she stated that the percentage of witch/wizards born is the same worldwide, and there are about 6k for every 6 million - 0.01% So for many to be born to the same tribe and willing to family up only with each other, and separate from their non-magic family, there wouldn’t be too many but I’m sure it could have happened. I think they would be famous amung their extended tribe.



11) Again, because of the very small percentage of magic-born(the percentage is about half as many as the percentage of identical twins) it would be unlikely to have any proper schools for them. More likely they would have apprenticeship type situations. Especially because Native American witches and wizards wouldn’t necessarily keep themselves secret from their non-magic people, they wouldn’t usually have to. They wouldn’t have secret-magic only allowed towns like the Europeans. Also, it wasn’t only the Spanish and English, especially in Northern States and Canada there were a huge amounts of French colonists.



12) I would be shocked if Ilvermorny didn’t have workshops. Also, Cahokia would average about 40 witches and wizards(of all ages) at its peek. That one could definitely be a clan, but not ‘dozens of schools’. I think there should still be a Cahokia clan bloodline alive, would be badass. Excellent headcannon material.



13) “In the Native American community, some witches and wizards were accepted and even lauded within their tribes, gaining reputations for healing as medicine men, or outstanding hunters”(Pottermore). She does include medicine men, so maybe they do/did travel.



14) The problem with skin-walker is that the Navajo are one of the Native American cultures that -for the most part- do not like to speak about their lore to non-navajo. Which is too bad, because they are literally defined as witches who turn into animals. Too on the nose about being directly relatable to the cannon. The fact that the Navajo don’t want any representation of their lore is the problem - not that it is “more like appropriation” than using the Cree Whitigo. Or the Algonquin term Wendigo. It is seen as a very serious tabboo, so maybe you see how trying to straddle the line between inclusion and anger is difficult.

I personally would like to see her use it - perhaps even as related to European werewolves. Though after all the hate and ridiculous death threats she’s gotten, we may never know any more about North America (past what she puts in Fantastic Beasts).



15) She did a lot of research, she did ask Natives. I’m assuming you’re Native American here, and even you made suggestions that would have been insulting and filled with backlash. That’s because we are all different. Even we as individuals cannot speak for each other, that is why even with consultants you won’t get everything right. One French person cannot speak for all of France, let alone all of Europe. No consultant in the world can perfectly speak for all of Europe, so why would anyone expect it for Native Americans? Especially a fellow Native American?!



Most of all, it you imply hurts that she didn’t even make or completely contradict what she wrote- you are doing more damage. If you intentionally misconstrue things you are causing more pain. Making it off to be worse than it is takes validity away from any real hurt.

Also, to the many commenters on the original post: Jk Rowling is the only female author to reach Billionaire status and lose it through charity. The bulk of that charity goes to single mothers of all races and sexualities, who live in poverty. Mostly because she was an impoverished, suicidal, single mother herself while she wrote the first Harry Potter book. She makes no money off of her Pottermore content. There are no ads on her site making money of the views, and none of her Ilvermorny writings are making it to book, play or movie (unfortunately). It is just free content for the fans. She wrote 3 companion novels: Quidditch through the Ages, Tales of Beedle the Bard, and Fantastic Beasts were ALL for free. She made NO money off of them, they were published at cost to her and proceeds went to charity.

Life is not black and white, people are not divided between only minority, impoverished, perfect people vs white, discriminatory, hateful psychopaths. There are all sorts of shades of grey.

