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6 - Indigenous Literacies in Early New England

from Part I - Traces and Removals (Pre-1870s)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2020

By
Hilary E. Wyss
Edited by
Melanie Benson Taylor
Melanie Benson Taylor
Affiliation:
Dartmouth College, New Hampshire
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Summary

This essay explores the multiple literacies of Indigenous writers from the earliest moments of American settlement, with a particular focus on early New England. The chapter sketches out the contours of early New England Native writing: its principal figures; its plural etiologies and intent; and its contested emergence at the fractious join of Native and settler spaces, institutions, and worldviews. Moving from John Eliot and his earliest missionary attempts to produce a new kind of alphabetic literacy for Indigenous converts, the essay documents the tensions between missionary-driven literacy projects and Indigenous uses of such literacy for specific political and cultural reasons. From 18th century figures like Samson Occom, Joseph Johnson to the 19th century writer and activist William Apess, Native writers produced rhetorically sophisticated texts that expressed a deep commitment to the continuity of Native peoples.

Keywords

William ApessJoseph JohnsonSamson OccomJames PrinterEliot BibleIndigenous literacyEarly New England Native writingNew England missionary cultureMassachusett language
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge History of Native American Literature , pp. 113 - 128
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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