Embraces the Wind was a member of the Wapiti Native American tribe of Oklahoma during the late 19th century. She later fell in love with an African-American, Robert Smith, and had a son with him, Charles Smith. Not long after Charles was born, the US Army forced the Wapiti to relocate to a reservation in South Dakota, and Embraces the Wind was separated from her husband and child, never to be seen again by them.