Native American Authors

Native American authors entered the public sphere of print in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. Mohegan Samson Occom (1723-1792) became the first Native American author in print with the 1772 publication of his Sermon Preached at the Execution of Moses Paul (New Haven, T. & S. Green). In 1829, Pequot author William Apess (1798-1839) became the first Native American to register copyright for his autobiography, A Son of the Forest (New York, the Author).

The initial phase of this project focused on Occom and Apess. Additional Native American authors, such as Ojibwa historian George Copway (1818-1869) or Paiute author Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins (1841-1891), among others, will be included following additional research. Native American authors who published in their native language, such as Cherokee writer, translator, and editor Elias Boudinot (1803-1839) are represented in the related language sections.

Digitized Works

1. A sermon preached at the execution of Moses Paul : an Indian who was executed at New-Haven on the 2d of September, 1772 for the murder of Mr. Moses Cook, late of Waterbury, on the 7th of December, 1771 / preached at the desire of said Paul by Samson Occom, minister of the gospel and missionary to the Indians.

2. A sermon at the execution of Moses Paul, an Indian; : who had been guilty of murder, preached at New Haven in America / by Samson Occom, a native Indian, and missionary to the Indians, who was in England in 1776 and 1777, collecting for the Indian charity schools. To which is added a short account of the late spread of the Gospel among the Indians. Also, Observations on the language of the Muhhekaneew Indians; communicated to the Connecticut Society of Arts and Sciences / by Jonathan Edwards, D.D.

3. David Cusick's Sketches of ancient history of the Six Nations: comprising, first, a tale of the foundation of the great island (now North America), the two infants born, and the creation of the universe. Second, a real account of the early settlers of North America, and their dissentions. Third, origin of the kingdom of the Five Nations, which was called a long house: the wars, fierce animals, &c.

4. A son of the forest : the experience of William Apes, a native of the forest ; comprising a notice of the Pequod tribe of Indians / written by himself.

5. A son of the forest : the experience of William Apes, a native of the forest / written by himself.

6. Indian nullification of the unconstitutional laws of Massachusetts, relative to the Marshpee tribe, or, The pretended riot explained / by William Apes.

7. Hymn : the Indian's prayer ...

8. Eulogy on King Philip : as pronounced at the Odeon, in Federal Street, Boston / by the Rev. William Apes.

9. History of the Ottawa and Chippewa Indians of Michigan; a grammar of their language, and personal and family history of the author, by Andrew J. Blackbird, late U.S. interpreter.