Mattie "Tootsie" Crosby arrived in Alaska at a time when African American women were viewed as a mere novelty by white people and brown-skinned Natives alike. It was not an easy task living among burly trappers, unsavory miners, and con artists galore. She more than held her own with the odds of survival practically nil. Eventually writing a book about her exploits, the hand-penned memoirs of
Everyone Knows Tootsie
were unfortunately misplaced and lost to the ages. Only through a miracle of God did author Michael Hankins accidentally stumble across several letters Mrs. Crosby wrote to a California newspaper. These time capsules of faded ink paint a vivid picture of her life in the Last Frontier.