Jamake Highwater

Jamake Mamake Highwater (born Jackie Marks; 13 February 1931 – June 3, 2001), also known as "J Marks", was an American writer and journalist of Eastern European Jewish ancestry who mispresented himself as <a href="/facts/Cherokee/M43yAzsu">Cherokee</a>.
In the late 1960s, Marks <a href="/facts/Pretendian/R0zHnzcj">assumed a false Native identity</a>, 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. His children's novel Anpao: An American Indian Odyssey (1973) received a <a href="/facts/Newbery_Honor/v6KNWvj3">Newbery Honor</a>. His book The Primal Mind: Vision and Reality in Indian America (1981) was the basis of a <a href="/facts/PBS/E6q9udH8">PBS</a> film documentary about <a href="/facts/Native_American_culture/UmDejU1o">Native American culture</a>.
Marks was exposed as an impostor in 1984 by <a href="/facts/Assiniboine/Ive1Kxwz">Assiniboine</a> activist <a href="/facts/Hank_Adams/12vI3Qnq">Hank Adams</a> and reporter <a href="/facts/Jack_Anderson_(columnist)/413kn5Yl">Jack Anderson</a> in separate publications. Despite this, Marks continued to be widely perceived by the general public as <a href="/facts/Native_Americans_in_the_United_States/lr8Qmd6N">Native American</a>.

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Jamake Highwater