Native American Women's Writing An Anthology c. 1800 - 1924

by Kilcup, Karen L.

• ISBN13: 9780631205180
• ISBN10: 0631205187
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-10-03
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

This ground-breaking anthology establishes the tradition of early Native American women's writing within American literature and American women's history. With a regionally diverse group of writers, this richly interwoven collection explores in depth the work of well-known figures such as Pauline Johnson, Sarah Winnemucca and Zitkala-ea, as well as less familiar writers such as Narcissa Owen, Buffalo Bird Woman, Mary Jemison, Ora Eddleman Reed, Sophia Alice Callahan, Owl Woman and Annette Leevier. Anonymously authored "women's texts" are also included, along with writing by children and young adults. Karen Kilcup challenges traditional mainstream notions of what constitutes literature, including political, historical, and autobiographical writing alongside more familiarly "aesthetic" forms like romantic poetry, short fiction and spiritual literature. As well as representing traditional oral narratives, the collection invites readers to hear the "translation" of orality into written forms. Brief headnotes outline the writers' lives and indicate connections between and among the writers. The volume also includes brief bibliographies of primary and secondary materials for each writer. A key text for the classroom, Native American Women's Writing: An Anthology c. 1800-1924 offers an inviting wealth of newly discovered material for scholars and general readers alike.

Author Biography

Karen L. Kilcup is Professor of American literature at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. The recipient of a US national Distinguished Teacher award in 1987, Professor Kilcup has been named the Davidson Eminent Scholar Chair in the Humanities at Florida International University for Fall 2000. She is the author or editor of six books on American literature and culture, including Soft Canons: American Women Writers and Masculine Tradition (1999), Robert Frost and Feminine Literary Tradition (1998), and Nineteenth-Century American Women Writers: An Anthology (1997).

Table of Contents

Preface	xvi
Acknowledgments	xviii
Writing ``The Red Woman's America'': An Introduction to Writing by Earlier Native American Women	1	(12)
Traditional Narratives and Songs	13	(13)
Narratives
[The Woman Who Fell From the Sky] (Iroquois) (Converse, 1908)	14	(1)
Kana ti and Selu: The Origin of Game and Corn (Cherokee) (Mooney, 1900)	15	(2)
[The Moon] (Cherokee) (Mooney, 1900)	17	(1)
Nun yunu wi, The Stone Man (Cherokee) (Mooney, 1900)	17	(1)
The Huhu Gets Married (Cherokee) (Mooney, 1900)	18	(1)
[Changing Woman and White Shell Woman] (Navajo) (Matthews, 1897)	19	(1)
The Girl-with-Spots-on-Her-Face (Musquakie) (Owen, 1904)	20	(1)
The Bear-Maiden: An Ojibwa Folk-Tale from Lac Courte Oreille Reservation, Wisconsin (Ojibwa) (Jenks, 1902)	20	(2)
Songs
From Chippewa Music: Love-Charm Songs and Love Songs (Densmore, 1910)	22	(1)
From Music of Acoma, Isleta, Cochiti, and Zuni Pueblos (Densmore, 1957)	23	(3)
Nancy Ward (Nan-ye-hi; Cherokee, C. 1738-C. 1822) and Cherokee Women	26	(5)
[Speech to the US Treaty Commissioners] (Ward, 1781)	27	(1)
[Speech to the US Treaty Commissioners] (Ward, 1785)	28	(1)
Cherokee Indian Women to President Franklin (1787)	28	(1)
[Petition to the Cherokee National Council] (Cherokee Women and Ward, May 2, 1817)	29	(1)
[Petition to the Cherokee National Council] (Cherokee Women and Ward, June 30, 1818)	29	(1)
[Petition to the Cherokee National Council] (Cherokee Women, C. October, 1821; from the Cherokee Phoenix, 1831)	30	(1)
Mary Jemison (Degiwene's, Two Falling Voices; Seneca, C. 1743-1833	31	(26)
From A Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Mary Jemison (1824)
Author's Preface [James E. Seaver]	32	(2)
Author's Introduction [James E. Seaver]	34	(2)
[Parents and Early Childhood]	36	(2)
[Education; Captivity; Mother's Farewell Address]	38	(4)
[Adoption by Two Seneca Sisters; First Marriage]	42	(4)
[White and Indian Women; Family Life]	46	(3)
[Revolution; Morals of the Indians]	49	(2)
[Landowner]	51	(2)
[Spiritous Liquors among the Seneca; Fratricide]	53	(2)
[Conclusion]	55	(2)
Jane Johnston Schoolcraft (Bame-wa-wa-ge-zhik-a-quay, Woman of the Stars Rushing Through the Sky; Ojibwe, 1800-1841)	57	(14)
Poetry
From The Literary Voyager or Muzzeniegun	58	(8)
Resignation [1826]	58	(1)
To Sisters on a Walk in the Garden, After a Shower [1826]	59	(1)
Lines To a Friend Asleep [1827]	59	(1)
Lines Written Under Affliction [1827]	60	(1)
Lines Written Under Severe Pain and Sickness [1827]	60	(1)
Otagamiad [1827]	60	(3)
Invocation To My Maternal Grandfather On Hearing His Descent from Chippewa Ancestors Misrepresented [1827]	63	(1)
Sonnet [1827]	64	(1)
To My Ever Beloved and Lamented Son, William Henry [1827]	64	(2)
Traditional Narratives
The Origin of the Robin An Oral Allegory [1827]	66	(1)
Moowis The Indian Coquette A Chippewa Legend [1827]	67	(1)
The Forsaken Brother A Chippewa Tale [1827]	67	(2)
Origin of the Miscodeed Or the Maid of Taquimenon [1827]	69	(2)
Lucy Lowrey Hoyt Keys (Wahnenauhi, Over-There-They-Just-Arrived-With-It; Cherokee, 1831-1912)	71	(19)
Historical Sketches of the Cherokees, Together with Some of Their Customs, Traditions, and Superstitions (1889)	72	(18)
Narcissa Owen (Cherokee, 1831-1911)	90	(20)
From Memoirs of Narcissa Owen: 1831-1907 (1907)
Some Old Cherokee Legends and Beliefs
[The Founding of the Cherokee Nation]	92	(1)
A Cherokee Rheumatism Cure	93	(1)
Cherokee Cure for Snake Bite	94	(1)
The First Migration to the Indian Territory
[US Government Treachery and the Trail of Tears]	94	(2)
Concerning my Father, Thomas Chisholm, and President Thomas Jefferson
[My Father]	96	(2)
The Jefferson Medal	98	(1)
Some Recollections of My Early Life
[My Education; Desperate Characters Infesting the Western Country]	98	(2)
Memories of Clinch River and Lynchburg
Life on Clinch River, at Evan's Bridge	100	(2)
Making Confederate Uniforms	102	(2)
The King Story	104	(1)
The Author as Mother and Teacher-Vicissitudes
[Return to the Cherokee Nation; Seminary Experiences]	105	(2)
A New Variety of Burglar	107	(1)
Being a Miscellaneous Chapter Concerning Many Persons and Things
from Home at the Metropolitan	108	(1)
from Some Family Data	108	(1)
from Some Things I Have Enjoyed	108	(2)
Buffalo Bird Woman (Waheenee, Maxidiwiac; Hidatsa, C. 1839-1932)	110	(19)
Autobiography, As Told to Gilbert L. Wilson, From Field Notes by Wilson, 1906-1929
Origin of the Hidatsas (vol. 13, 1913)	111	(2)
Birth and Childhood (vol. 9, 1910)	113	(1)
How Maxidiwiac Got Her Name (vol. 16, 1914)	114	(1)
A Daughter's Training (vol. 18, 1915)	115	(1)
Corn Songs (vol. 18, 1915)	116	(1)
Goodbird is Nearly Drowned (vol. 18, 1915)	117	(1)
Punishment of Children, of Adults; Ideas of Crime (vol. 10, 1911)	117	(1)
June Berry (vol. 20, 1916)	118	(2)
Courtship and Marriage (vol. 9, 1910/1912)	120	(2)
Honor Marks of Women (vol. 11, 1912)	122	(1)
Children's Tales (vol. 10, 1911)	122	(4)
Story of Itsikamahidish and the Wild Potato (vol. 16, 1914)	126	(1)
How the Prairie Chicken Was Made (vol. 18, 1915)	127	(1)
Indian Life in Former Days Compared with the Present Life (vol. 22, 1918)	128	(1)
Sarah Winnemucca (Thocmetony, Shell Flower; Paiute, C. 1844-1891)	129	(40)
From Life Among the Piutes (1883)
Editor's Preface [Mary Mann]	131	(1)
First Meeting of Piutes and Whites	131	(15)
Domestic and Social Moralities	146	(5)
Wars and Their Causes	151	(3)
Captain Truckee's Death	154	(3)
Reservation of Pyramid and Muddy Lakes	157	(12)
Susette LaFlesche [Tibbles] (Inshta Theamba, Bright Eyes; Omaha, 1854-1903)	169	(18)
An Indian Woman's Letter (The Southern Workman, April, 1879)	170	(1)
Letter to St. Nicholas (1880)	171	(1)
From Testimony before the US Senate on the Removal of the Ponca Indians (1880)	172	(2)
Introduction to The Ponca Chiefs	174	(1)
Thomas H. Tibbles
Nedawi (An Indian Story from Real Life) (St. Nicholas, January, 1881)	174	(5)
Introduction to Ploughed Under: The Story of an Indian Chief, Told by Himself	179	(2)
William Justin Harsha
Omaha Legends and Tent-Stories (Wide Awake, June, 1883)	181	(6)
Annette Leevier (Ojibwe, 1856-?)	187	(20)
Psychic Experiences of an Indian Princess, Daughter of Chief Tommyhawk (1920)
To Sitting Bull -- The Sioux Brave	188	(1)
Foreword	189	(1)
Part I	189	(8)
Healing	197	(1)
Trailing	198	(1)
Titanic Prophecy	199	(1)
Soul Flight	199	(1)
Waiting	200	(1)
Tiffin Prophecy	201	(2)
Tribute from Chief Tommyhawk	203	(1)
Obsession and Spirit Conditions	203	(1)
Obsession	204	(2)
Conclusion	206	(1)
E. Pauline Johnson (Tekahionwake, Double Wampum; Mohawk, 1861-1913)	207	(41)
Poetry
From Flint and Feather (1912)
Canada (Acrostic)	209	(1)
The Cattle Thief	209	(1)
The Corn Husker	210	(1)
Erie Waters	211	(1)
The Idlers	211	(1)
In the Shadows	212	(2)
The Indian Corn Planter	214	(1)
Joe An Etching	214	(1)
Low Tide at St. Andrews (New Brunswick)	215	(1)
Lullaby of the Iroquois	215	(1)
Marshlands	216	(1)
Penseroso	216	(1)
The Quill Worker	217	(1)
Shadow River Muskoka	217	(1)
Thistle-Down	218	(1)
Under Canvas In Muskoka	219	(1)
The Wolf	219	(1)
Wolverine	220	(2)
From American Canoe Club Year Book (1893)
The Portage	222	(1)
Fiction and Prose Nonfiction
From The Moccasin Maker (1913)
Catharine of the ``Crow's Nest''	222	(6)
The Envoy Extraordinary	228	(4)
As It Was in the Beginning	232	(4)
From The Shagganappi (1913)
Little Wolf-Willow	236	(5)
Sons of Savages	241	(1)
From Legends of Vancouver (1922)
The Lost Salmon-Run	242	(3)
The Sea-Serpent	245	(3)
Mabel Washbourne Anderson (Cherokee, 1863-1949)	248	(11)
Nowita, the Sweet Singer -- A Romantic Tradition of Spavinaw, Indian Territory (Twin Territories, January, 1903)	249	(6)
Joe Jamison's Sacrifice (Sturm's, January, 1906)	255	(4)
Sophia Alice Callahan (Muscogee/Creek, 1868-1894)	259	(16)
From Wynema, A Child of the Forest (1891)
[Dedication]	260	(1)
Publisher's Preface	260	(1)
Introductory	261	(2)
The School	263	(1)
Some Indian Dishes	264	(1)
An Indian Burial	265	(2)
A Strange Ceremony	267	(1)
Some Changes	268	(1)
In the Old Home	268	(2)
A Conservative	270	(1)
Shall We Allot?	271	(2)
More Concerning Allotments	273	(2)
Fox Indian Woman (Mesquakie/Fox, FL. 1918)/Truman Michelson	275	(14)
The Autobiography of a Fox Indian Woman (1918)	276	(13)
Dalottiwa
Horace Poweshiek
Truman Michelson
Owl Woman (Juana Manwell; Papago, FL. 1880)/Frances Densmore (1867-1957)	289	(5)
From Papago Music (1929)
Songs for Treating Sickness, Sung during the Four Parts of the Night	290	(1)
Parts One and Two: Beginning Songs and Songs Sung before Midnight	290	(1)
No. 72 ``Brown Owls''	290	(1)
No. 73 ``In the Blue Night''	290	(1)
No. 74 ``The Owl Feather''	290	(1)
No. 75 ``They Come Hooting''	290	(1)
No. 76 ``In the Dark I Enter''	291	(1)
No. 77 ``His Heart is Almost Covered with Night''	291	(1)
No. 78 ``I See Spirit-Tufts of White Feathers''	291	(1)
No. 79 ``Yonder Lies the Spirit Land''	291	(1)
NN/NT [``Sadly I was treated, sadly I was treated'']	291	(1)
No. 80 ``Song of a Spirit''	291	(1)
No. 81 ``We Will Join Them''	291	(1)
No. 82 ``My Feathers''	292	(1)
No. 83 ``The Women are Singing''	292	(1)
NN/NT [``In the great night my heart will go out'']	292	(1)
NN/NT [``On the west side they are singing, the women hear it'']	292	(1)
No. 84 ``I Am Going to See the Land''	292	(1)
No. 85 ``I Run Toward Ashes Hill''	292	(1)
No. 86 ``The Waters of the Spirits''	292	(1)
Parts Three and Four: Songs Sung between Midnight and Early Morning	292	(1)
No. 87 ``There Will I See the Dawn''	292	(1)
No. 88 ``I Run Toward the East''	293	(1)
No. 89 ``I Die Here''	293	(1)
No. 90 ``I Could See the Daylight Coming''	293	(1)
No. 91 ``The Dawn Approaches''	293	(1)
No. 92 ``The Owl Feather is Looking for the Dawn''	293	(1)
No. 93 ``The Morning Star''	293	(1)
No. 94 ``Song of a Medicine Woman on Seeing that a Sick Person Will Die''	293	(1)
Zitkala-Sa (Red Bird, Gertrude Simmons Bonnin; Sioux, 1876-1938)	294	(56)
Poetry
From American Indian Magazine
The Indian's Awakening (January-March, 1916)	296	(2)
The Red Man's America (January-March, 1917)	298	(1)
A Sioux Woman's Love for Her Grandchild (October-December, 1917)	299	(2)
Fiction and Prose Nonfiction
From Old Indian Legends (1904)
Iktomi and the Ducks	301	(2)
Iktomi and the Muskrat	303	(1)
From American Indian Stories (1921)
Impressions of an Indian Childhood	304	(1)
My Mother	304	(1)
The Legends	305	(2)
The Beadwork	307	(1)
The Coffee-Making	308	(1)
The Dead Man's Plum Bush	309	(1)
The Ground Squirrel	310	(1)
The Big Red Apples	311	(2)
The School Days of an Indian Girl	313	(1)
The Land of Red Apples	313	(1)
The Cutting of My Long Hair	314	(1)
The Snow Episode	315	(1)
The Devil	316	(1)
Iron Routine	316	(1)
Four Strange Summers	317	(2)
Incurring My Mother's Displeasure	319	(1)
An Indian Teacher Among Indians	320	(1)
My First Day	320	(1)
A Trip Westward	321	(2)
My Mother's Curse upon White Settlers	323	(1)
Retrospection	323	(1)
The Soft-Hearted Sioux	324	(4)
A Warrior's Daughter	328	(4)
The Great Spirit	332	(1)
From Various Periodicals	333	(4)
A Year's Experience in Community Service Work Among the Ute Tribe of Indians (American Indian Magazine, October-December, 1916)	333	(2)
Chipeta, Widow of Chief Ouray, With a Word About a Deal in Blankets (American Indian Magazine July-September, 1917)	335	(2)
Indian Gifts to Civilized Man (The Indian Sentinel, July 1918; also in Tomahawk, July, 1919)	337	(1)
Editorial Comment (American Indian Magazine, July-September, 1918)	338	(1)
America, Home of the Red Man (American Indian Magazine, Winter, 1919)	339	(1)
Letter to the Chiefs and Head-men of the Tribes (American Indian Magazine, Winter, 1919)	340	(1)
From Oklahoma's Poor Rich Indians: An Orgy of Graft and Exploitation of the Five Civilized Tribes-Legalized Robbery	341	(9)
Charles H. Fabens
Matthew K. Sniffen
Summary	341	(2)
The Professional Guardian	343	(1)
The System at Work	344	(1)
A Seven-Year-Old Victim	345	(1)
In Osage County	346	(2)
In Briefer Form	348	(1)
In Conclusion	349	(1)
The Remedy	349	(1)
Ora V. Eddleman Reed (pseud. Mignon Schreiber; Cherokee, 1880-1968)	350	(49)
Fiction
From Twin Territories
A Face at the Window (July, 1899)	352	(4)
A Pair of Moccasins (August-December, 1899)	356	(1)
Chapter I	356	(2)
Chapter II	358	(1)
Chapter III -- Part II	359	(1)
Chapter IV. A Lapse of Five Years	360	(2)
Chapter V	362	(2)
Chapter VI	364	(2)
[Chapter VII]	366	(3)
Aunt Mary's Christmas Dinner (December, 1899)	369	(3)
The Honor of Wynoma, A Thanksgiving Story By A Cherokee Girl (November, 1902)	372	(1)
Chapter I	372	(3)
Chapter II	375	(2)
From Sturm's
Aid to Cupid (September, 1909)	377	(5)
Billy Bearclaws
Nonfiction
From Twin Territories
[Indian Land Selection] (May, 1899)	382	(1)
Daugherty Canyon (May, 1899)	383	(1)
Do Not Want Them (June, 1899)	384	(1)
Talequah (June, 1899)	384	(1)
The Choctaw People (June, 1899)	385	(1)
From ``What the Curious Want to Know...A Department Devoted to Enquirers.'' (1900-1902)	386	(2)
From Sturm's
Indian Wit and Wisdom (March, 1906)	388	(1)
Indian Proverbs (March, 1906)	389	(1)
When The Cowboy Reigned (April, 1906)	389	(1)
Father of 90,000 Indians (July, 1906)	390	(2)
Indian Tales Between Pipes (November, 1906)	392	(2)
The Indian Orphan (January, 1908)	394	(1)
Daughters of Confederacy (June, 1910)	395	(4)
Various Authors	399	(31)
From Cherokee Rose Buds (1854)
Our Wreath of Rose Buds	401	(1)
Corinne
[Editorial]	402	(1)
Anonymous
An Osage Wedding	402	(1)
Ka-Ya-Kun-Stah
An Address to the Females of the Cherokee Nation	403	(1)
Na-Li
View from our Seminary	403	(1)
Edith
Childhood	404	(1)
Wah-Lie
The Gardening Season-A Great Time Among All Matrons	404	(1)
Letilla
A Dialogue Between Susan and Ellen	404	(1)
Anonymous
Dissipation	405	(1)
Cherokee
Kate M---'s Composition	405	(1)
Lusette
A Peep into the Future	406	(1)
Inez
A Dream	406	(1)
Flora Green
Queer Matty	407	(1)
Dora
From A Wreath of Cherokee Rose Buds (August, 1855)
[Editorial]	407	(1)
Anonymous
Two Scenes in Cherokee Land	408	(1)
Na-Li
Fanny
Beauty	409	(1)
Alice
A Walk	410	(1)
Kate
Female Influence	410	(1)
Qua-Tsy
Critics and Criticism	411	(1)
Lelia
Literary Day Among the Birds	412	(1)
Lily Lee
Intemperance	413	(1)
Grace
The Mouse's Will	413	(1)
Leonora
From The Indian Helper (June 20, 1890)
A Trip to the Moon, A Composition by One of Our Imaginative Sioux Girls	414	(1)
Nellie Robertson
From The Indian Leader (June, 1897)
[Bright Eyes], Autobiography of an Indian Girl	415	(1)
From The Indian Leader (October 27, 1899)
The Story of Columbus	416	(1)
Myrtle Dixon
From The Indian Leader (October, 1899)
An Indian Girl's History, Written by Herself	417	(1)
Anonymous
From The Indian Leader (May 3, 1901)
A Fish Story	418	(1)
Edith Tourtillotte
From The Indian Leader (January 31, 1902)
An Autobiography	419	(1)
Elena Byanuaba
From Twin Territories (December, 1902)
Legend of the Cricket	420	(1)
Alice Phillips
From Twin Territories (April, 1903) For the Little Chiefs and their Sisters
The Unruly Pigs	421	(1)
Hellen Rebecca Anderson
From Sturm's (September, 1905)
A Summer Day	421	(1)
Adella Washee
From The Indian Leader (December, 1908)
A Christmas Festival Among the Indians	421	(1)
Julia Seelatsee
From Red Man (September, 1910)
A Seneca Tradition	422	(1)
Evelyn Pierce
From Red Man (October, 1910)
The Story of the Deerskin	423	(1)
Emma La Vatta
Shoshoni
From The Indian Leader (January 20, 1911)
A Pima Legend	423	(1)
Luciana Cheerless
From The Indian Leader (March 3, 1911)
Saquavicha, the Fox-Girl	424	(1)
Clara Talavenska Keshoitewa
Hopi
From The Indian Leader (January, 1912)
In a Snow Drift	425	(1)
Minnie Pike
Eut
From The Carlisle Arrow (December 27, 1912)
Babetta's Christmas	426	(1)
Isabel La Vatta
From The Red Man (December, 1912)
The Merman's Prophecy	427	(1)
Emma M. Newashe
From The Indian Leader (December 26, 1919)
Left Overs From Good English Week. Slogans and Rhymes by Vocational IV, Girls	428	(1)
Anonymous
From The Indian Leader (December 26, 1919)
A Story of Modern Knights	428	(2)
Evelyn Leary
Index	430