Native American women's writing c. 1800-1924 : an anthology / edited by Karen L. Kilcup.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Kilcup, Karen L.

Series:

Blackwell anthologies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

American literature--Indian authors.

American literature--Women authors.

Indian women--Literary collections.

Indian women.

Genre:

Literary collections.

Literature.

Physical Description:

xix, 434 pages ; 26 cm.

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; Malden, Mass. : Blackwell Publishers, 2000.

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-sa, 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 Anthologv c. 1800-1924 offers an inviting wealth of newly discovered material for scholars and general readers alike.

Contents:

Writing "The Red Woman's America": An Introduction to Writing by Earlier Native American Women 1

Traditional Narratives and Songs 13

Narratives

[The Woman Who Fell From the Sky] (Iroquois) (Converse, 1908) 14

Kana ti and Selu: The Origin of Game and Corn (Cherokee) (Mooney, 1900) 15

[The Moon] (Cherokee) (Mooney, 1900) 17

Nun yunu wi, The Stone Man (Cherokee) (Mooney, 1900) 17

The Huhu Gets Married (Cherokee) (Mooney, 1900) 18

[Changing Woman and White Shell Woman] (Navajo) (Matthews, 1897) 19

The Girl-with-Spots-on-Her-Face (Musquakie) (Owen, 1904) 20

The Bear-Maiden: An Ojibwa Folk-Tale from Lac Courte Oreille Reservation, Wisconsin (Ojibwa) (Jenks, 1902) 20

Songs

From Chippewa Music Love-Charm Songs and Love Songs (Densmore, 1910) 22

From Music of Acoma, Isleta, Cochiti, and Zuni Pueblos (Densmore, 1957) 23

Nancy Ward (Nan-ye-hi; Cherokee, c. 1738-c. 1822). and Cherokee Women 26

[Speech to the US Treaty Commissioners] (Ward, 1781) 27

[Speech to the US Treaty Commissioners] (Ward, 1785) 28

Cherokee Indian Women to President Franklin (1787) 28

[Petition to the Cherokee National Council] (Cherokee Women and Ward, May 2, 1817) 29

[Petition to the Cherokee National Council] (Cherokee Women and Ward, June 30, 1818) 29

[Petition to the Cherokee National Council] (Cherokee Women, c. October, 1821; from the Cherokee Phoenix, 1831) 30

Mary Jemison (Degiwene's, Two Falling Voices; Seneca, c. 1743-1833 31

From A Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Mary Jemison (1824)

Author's Preface [James E. Seaver] 32

Author's Introduction [James E. Seaver] 34

Chapter 1 [Parents and Early Childhood] 36

Chapter 2 [Education; Captivity; Mother's Farewell Address] 38

Chapter 3 [Adoption by Two Seneca Sisters; First Marriage] 42

Chapter 4 [White and Indian Women; Family Life] 46

Chapter 6 [Revolution; Morals of the Indians] 49

Chapter 9 [Landowner] 51

Chapter 10 [Spiritous Liquors among the Seneca; Fratricide] 53

Jane Johnston Schoolcraft (Bame-wa-wa-ge-zhik-a-quay, Woman of the Stars Rushing Through the Sky; Ojibwe, 1800-1841) 57

Poetry

From The Literary Voyager or Muzzeniegun 58

Resignation [1826] 58

To Sisters on a Walk in the Garden, After a Shower [1826] 59

Lines To a Friend Asleep [1827] 59

Lines Written Under Affliction [1827] 60

Lines Written Under Severe Pain and Sickness [1827] 60

Otagamiad [1827] 60

Invocation To My Maternal Grandfather On Hearing His Descent from Chippewa Ancestors Misrepresented [1827] 63

Sonner [1827] 64

To My Ever Beloved and Lamented Son, William Henry [1827] 64

Traditional Narratives

The Origin of the Robin An Oral Allegory [1827] 66

Moowis The Indian Coquette A Chippewa Legend [1827] 67

The Forsaken Brother A Chippewa Tale [1827] 67

Origin of the Miscodeed Or the Maid of Taquimenon [1827] 69

Lucy Lowrey Hoyt Keys (Wahnenauhi, Over-Therf-They-Just-Arrived-With-It

Cherokee, 1831-1912) 71

Historical Sketches of the Cherokees, Together with Some of Their Customs, Traditions, and Superstitions (1889) 72

Narcissa Owen (Cherokee, 1831-1911) 90

From Memoirs of Narcissa Owen: 1831-1907 (1907)

@from Chapter I: Some Old Cherokee Legends and Beliefs

[The Founding of the Cherokee Nation] 92

A Cherokee Rheumatism Cure 93

Cherokee Cure for Snake Bite 94

@from Chapter II: The First Migration to the Indian Territory

[US Government Treachery and the Trail of Tears] 94

@from Chapter III: Concerning my Father, Thomas Chisholm, and President

Thomas Jefferson

[My Father] 96

The Jefferson Medal 98

@from Chapter IV: Some Recollections of My Early Life

[My Education; Desperate Characters Infesting the Western Country] 98

@from Chapter V: Memories of Clinch River and Lynchburg

Life on Clinch River, at Evan's Bridge 100

Making Confederate Uniforms 102

The King Story 104

@from Chapter VI: The Author as Mother and Teacher - Vicissitudes

[Return to the Cherokee Nation; Seminary Experiences] 105

A New Variety of Burglar 107

@from Chapter IX: Being a Miscellaneous Chapter Concerning Many Persons and Things

@from Home at the Metropolitan 108

@from Some Family Data 108

@from Some Things I Have Enjoyed 108

Buffalo Bird Woman (Waheenee, Maxidiwiac; Hidatsa, c. 1839-1932) 110

Autobiography, As Told to Gilbert L. Wilson, From Field Notes by Wilson, 1906-1929

Origin of the Hidatsas (vol. 13, 1913) 111

Birth and Childhood (vol. 9, 1910) 113

How Maxidiwiac Got Her Name (vol. 16, 1914) 114

A Daughter's Training (vol. 18, 1915) 115

Corn Songs (vol. 18, 1915) 116

Goodbird is Nearly Drowned (vol. 18, 1915) 117

Punishment of Children, of Adults; Ideas of Crime (vol. 10, 1911) 117

June Berry (vol. 20, 1916) 118

Courtship and Marriage (vol. 9, 1910/1912) 120

Honor Marks of Women (vol. 11, 1912) 122

Children's Tales (vol. 10, 1911) 122

Story of Itsikamahidish and the Wild Potato (vol. 16, 1914) 126

How the Prairie Chicken Was Made (vol. 18, 1915) 127

Indian Life in Former Days Compared with the Present Life (vol. 22, 1918) 128

Sarah Winnemucca (Thocmetony, Shell Flower; Paiute, c. 1844-1891) 129

From Life Among the Piutes (1883)

Editor's Preface [Mary Mann] 131

Chapter I First Meeting of Piutes and Whites 131

Chapter II Domestic and Social Moralities 146

Chapter III Wars and Their Causes 151

Chapter IV Captain Truckee's Death 154

Chapter V Reservation of Pyramid and Muddy Lakes 157

Susette LaFieschf [Tibbies] (Inshta Theamba, Bright Eyes; Omaha, 1854-1903) 169

An Indian Woman's Letter (The Southern Workman, April, 1879) 170

Letter to St. Nicholas (1880) 171

From Testimony before the US Senate on the Removal of the Ponca Indians (1880) 172

Introduction to The Ponca Chiefs, by Thomas H. Tibbles (1880) 174

Nedawi (An Indian Story from Real Life) (St. Nicholas, January, 1881) 174

Introduction to Ploughed Under: The Story of an Indian Chief, Told by Himself, by William Justin Harsha (1881) 179

Omaha Legends and Tent-Stories (Wide Awake, June, 1883) 181

Annette Leevier (Ojibwe, 1856-?) 187

Psychic Experiences of an Indian Princess, Daughter of Chief Tommyhawk (1920)

To Sitting Bull - The Sioux Brave 188

Healing 197

Trailing 198

Titanic Prophecy 199

Soul Flight 199

Waiting 200

Tiffin Prophecy 201

Tribute from Chief Tommyhawk 203

Obsession and Spirit Conditions 203

Obsession 204

E. Pauline Johnson (Tekahionwake, Double Wampum; Mohawk, 1861-1913) 207

From Flint and Feather (1912)

Canada (Acrostic) 209

The Cattle Thief 209

The Corn Husker 210

Erie Waters 211

The Idlers 211

In the Shadows 212

The Indian Corn Planter 214

Joe An Etching 214

Low Tide at St. Andrews (New Brunswick) 215

Lullaby of the Iroquois 215

Marshlands 216

Penseroso 216

The Quill Worker 217

Shadow River Muskoka 217

Thistle-Down 218

Under Canvas In Muskoka 219

The Wolf 219

Wolverine 220

From American Canoe Club Year Book (1893)

The Portage 222

Fiction and Prose Nonfiction

From The Moccasin Maker (1913)

Catharine of the "Crow's Nest" 222

The Envoy Extraordinary 228

As It Was in the Beginning 232

From The Shagganappi (1913)

Little Wolf-Willow 236

Sons of Savages 241

From Legends of Vancouver (1922)

The Lost Salmon-Run 242

The Sea-Serpent 245

Mabel Washbourne Anderson (Cherokee, 1863-1949) 248

Nowita, the Sweet Singer

A Romantic Tradition of Spavinaw, Indian Territory (Twin Territories, January, 1903) 249

Joe Jamison's Sacrifice (Sturm's, January, 1906) 255

Sophia Alice Callahan (Muscogee/Creek, 1868-1894) 259

From Wynema, A Child of the Forest (1891)

[Dedication] 260

Chapter II The School 263

Chapter III Some Indian Dishes 264

Chapter VI An Indian Burial 265

Chapter VII A Strange Ceremony 267

Chapter IX Some Changes 268

Chapter XI In the Old Home 268

Chapter XII A Conservative 270

Chapter XIII Shall We Allot? 271

Chapter XIV More Concerning Allotments 273

Fox Indian Woman (Mesquakie/Fox, fl. 1918)/Truman Michelson 275

The Autobiography of a Fox Indian Woman (1918) (with Dalottiwa, Horace Poweshiek, and Truman Michelson) 276

Owl Woman (Juana Manwell; Papago, fl. 1880)/Frances Densmore (1867-1957) 289

From Papago Music (1929)

Songs for Treating Sickness, Sung during the Four Parts of the Night 290

Parts One and Two: Beginning Songs and Songs Sung before Midnight 290

No. 72 "Brown Owls" 290

No. 73 "In the Blue Night" 290

No. 74 "The Owl Feather" 290

No. 75 "They Come Hooting" 290

No. 76 "In the Dark I Enter" 291

No. 77 "His Heart is Almost Covered with Night" 291

No. 78 "I See Spirit-Tufts of White Feathers" 291

No. 79 "Yonder Lies the Spirit Land" 291

NN/NT ["Sadly I was treated, sadly I was treated"] 291

No. 80 "Song of a Spirit" 291

No. 81 "We Will Join Them" 291

No. 82 "My Feathers" 292

No. 83 "The Women are Singing" 292

NN/NT ["In the great night my heart will go out"] 292

NN/NT ["On the west side they are singing, the women hear it"] 292

No. 84 "I Am Going to See the Land" 292

No. 85 "I Run Toward Ashes Hill" 292

No. 86 "The Waters of the Spirits" 292

Parts Three and Four: Songs Sung between Midnight and Early Morning 292

No. 87 "There Will I See the Dawn" 292

No. 88 "I Run Toward the East" 293

No. 89 "I Die Here" 293

No. 90 "I Could See the Daylight Coming" 293

No. 91 "The Dawn Approaches" 293

No. 92 "The Owl Feather is Looking for the Dawn" 293

No. 93 "The Morning Star" 293

No. 94 "Song of a Medicine Woman on Seeing that a Sick Person Will Die" 293

Zitkala-Sa (Red Bird, Gertrude Simmons Bonnin; Sioux, 1876-1938) 294

From American Indian Magazine

The Indian's Awakening (January-March, 1916) 296

The Red Man's America (January-March, 1917) 298

A Sioux Woman's Love for Her Grandchild (October-December, 1917) 299

From Old Indian Legends (1904)

Iktomi and the Ducks 301

Iktomi and the Muskrat 303

From American Indian Stories (1921)

Impressions of an Indian Childhood 304

I. My Mother 304

II. The Legends 305

III. The Beadwork 307

IV. The Coffee-Making 308

V. The Dead Man's Plum Bush 309

VI. The Ground Squirrel 310

VII. The Big Red Apples 311

The School Days of an Indian Girl 313

I. The Land of Red Apples 313

II. The Cutting of My Long Hair 314

III. The Snow Episode 315

IV. The Devil 316

V. Iron Routine 316

VI. Four Strange Summers 317

VII. Incurring My Mother's Displeasure 319

An Indian Teacher Among Indians 320

I. My First Day 320

II. A Trip Westward 321

III. My Mother's Curse upon White Settlers 323

IV. Retrospection 323

The Soft-Hearted Sioux 324

A Warrior's Daughter 328

The Great Spirit 332

From Various Periodicals 333

A Year's Experience in Community Service Work Among the Ute Tribe of Indians (American Indian Magazine, October-December, 1916) 333

Chipeta, Widow of Chief Ouray, With a Word About a Deal in Blankets (American Indian Magazine July-September, 1917) 335

Indian Gifts to Civilized Man (The Indian Sentinel, July 1918; also in Tomahawk, July, 1919) 337

Editorial Comment (American Indian Magazine, July-September, 1918) 338

America, Home of the Red Man (American Indian Magazine, Winter, 1919) 339

Letter to the Chiefs and Head-men of the Tribes (American Indian Magazine, Winter, 1919) 340

From Oklahoma's Poor Rich Indians: An Orgy of Graft and Exploitation of the Five Civilized Tribes

Legalized Robbery (1924; with Charles H. Fabens and Matthew K. Sniffen) 341

The Professional Guardian 343

The System at Work 344

A Seven-Year-Old Victim 345

In Osage County 346

In Briefer Form 348

The Remedy 349

Ora V. Eddleman Reed (pseud. Mignon Schreiber; Cherokee, 1880-1968) 350

Fiction

From Twin Territories

A Face at the Window (July, 1899) 352

A Pair of Moccasins (August-December, 1899) 356

Chapter IV A Lapse of Five Years 360

Aunt Mary's Christmas Dinner (December, 1899) 369

The Honor of Wynoma, A Thanksgiving Story By A Cherokee Girl (November, 1902) 372

From Sturm's

Billy Bearclaws, Aid to Cupid (September, 1909) 377

Nonfiction

[Indian Land Selection] (May, 1899) 382

Daugherty Canyon (May, 1899) 383

Do Not Want Them (June, 1899) 384

Talequah (June, 1899) 384

The Choctaw People (June, 1899) 385

From "What the Curious Want to Know ... A Department Devoted to Enquirers." (1900-1902) 386

Indian Wit and Wisdom (March, 1906) 388

Indian Proverbs (March, 1906) 389

When The Cowboy Reigned (April, 1906) 389

Father of 90,000 Indians (July, 1906) 390

Indian Tales Between Pipes (November, 1906) 392

The Indian Orphan (January, 1908) 394

Daughters of Confederacy (June, 1910) 395

Various Authors 399

From Cherokee Rose Buds (1854)

Corinne, Our Wreath of Rose Buds 401

Anonymous, [Editorial] 402

Ka-Ya-Kun-Stah, An Osage Wedding 402

Na-Li, An Address to the Females of the Cherokee Nation 403

Edith, View from our Seminary 403

Wah-Lie, Childhood 404

Letilla, The Gardening Season

A Great Time Among All Matrons 404

Anonymous, A Dialogue Between Susan and Ellen 404

Cherokee, Dissipation 405

Lusette, Kate M

's Composition 405

Inez, A Peep into the Future 406

Flora Green, A Dream 406

Dora, Queer Matty 407

From A Wreath of Cherokee Rose Buds (August, 1855)

Anonymous, [Editorial] 407

Na-Li (Scene I); Fanny (Scene II), Two Scenes in Cherokee Land 408

Alice, Beauty 409

Kate, A Walk 410

Qua-Tsy, Female Influence 410

Lelia, Critics and Criticism 411

Lily Lee, Literary Day Among the Birds 412

Grace, Intemperance 413

Leonora, The Mouse's Will 413

From The Indian Helper (June 20, 1890)

Nellie Robertson, A Trip to the Moon, A Composition by One of Our Imaginative Sioux Girls 414

From The Indian Leader (June, 1897)

[Bright Eyes], Autobiography of an Indian Girl 415

From The Indian Leader (October 27, 1899)

Myrtle Dixon, The Story of Columbus 416

From The Indian Leader (October, 1899)

Anonymous, An Indian Girl's History, Written by Herself 417

From The Indian Leader (May 3, 1901)

Edith Tourtillotte, A Fish Story 418

From The Indian Leader (January 31, 1902)

Elena Byanuaba, An Autobiography 419

From Twin Territories (December, 1902)

Alice Phillips, Legend of the Cricket 420

From Twin Territories (April, 1903) For the Little Chiefs and their Sisters

Hellen Rebecca Anderson, The Unruly Pigs 421

From Sturm's (September, 1905)

Adella Washee, A Summer Day 421

From The Indian Leader (December, 1908)

Julia Seelatsee, A Christmas Festival Among the Indians 421

From Red Man (September, 1910)

Evelyn Pierce, A Seneca Tradition 422

From Red Man (October, 1910)

Emma LaVatta, Shoshoni, The Story of the Deerskin 423

From The Indian Leader (January 20, 1911)

Luciana Cheerless, A Pima Legend 423

From The Indian Leader (March 3, 1911)

Clara Talavenska Keshoitewa, Hopi, Saquavicha, the Fox-Girl 424

From The Indian Leader (January, 1912)

Minnie Pike, Eut, In a Snow Drift 425

From The Carlisle Arrow (December 27, 1912)

Isabel LaVatta, Babetta's Christmas 426

From The Red Man (December, 1912)

Emma M. Newashe, The Merman's Prophecy 427

From The Indian Leader (December 26, 1919)

Anonymous, Left Overs From Good English Week. Slogans and Rhymes by Vocational IV, Girls 428

Evelyn Leary, A Story of Modern Knights 428.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0631205179

0631205187

OCLC:

43318938