 Born in Akron, Ohio, to a Swedish American father and a Cherokee mother, Adamson grew up in Akron and spent summers with her Cherokee grandmother in Lumberton, North Carolina where she learned about the history and culture of her Cherokee people.She holds a master of science in economic development from the Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester, New Hampshire, where she teaches a graduate course on indigenous economics.After graduating from Firestone High School in Akron in 1967, she studied philosophy at the University of Akron and then took courses in law and economics at Piedmont College in Georgia.