The Native Voice
Native American literature
The dominant focus on issues related to Native American culture, history, religion, and experiences.
The term Native American literature= American Indian literature, refers to works written by the indigenous people of the US and Canada. In Canada also called First Nations literature. Because more than 1,100 nations, or tribes, of Native Americans live in the US and Canada, Native American literature encompasses many different social, cultural, historical, and spiritual perspectives.
oral tradition
NA literature originates in the oral traditions of native peoples—the spoken words used to pass on information from generation to generation. It has been published since the 1700s and has grown steadily since the 1960s.
Stories play a crucial role in defining what it means to be a member of a given tribe and how a person relates to the tribe's past, present, and future.
Oral literature remained important in Native American life through the 20th c and will continue to be important in the 21st c
One of the most influential works of modern oral literature was the narrated autobiography of Black Elk (a Lakota): Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux (1932) was transcribed and edited by American poet John G. Neihardt.
Many modern written works show the influence of oral literature:
The Way to Rainy Mountain (1969) by N. Scott Momaday (Kiowa)
Storyteller (1981) by Leslie Marmon Silko (Laguna)
-- both express the importance of the spoken word as it has been passed from generation to generation.
1700s and 1800s
Some of the earliest written works by Native Americans were religious sermons and protest works. Samson Occom (Mohegan) and William Apess (Pequot) protested discrimination against Native Americans.
Occom's Sermon Preached at the Execution of Moses Paul, an Indian (1772) discusses the damage that the introduction of alcohol had brought to native peoples.
Apess's Indian Nullification of the Unconstitutional Laws of Massachusetts, Relative to the Marshpee Tribe (1835) helped the Marshpee fight legal injustices that other tribes were also facing.
histories
Many NA writers of the 19th century wrote histories of their tribes.
One tribal historian was David Cusick (Tuscarora), whose Sketches of Ancient History of the Six Nations (1827) was the first published tribal history.
One of the best-known early tribal historians was George Copway (Ojibwa), whose Traditional History and Characteristic Sketches of the Ojibway Nation (1850) emphasizes the importance of tribal oral history and explains the migrations, myths, religions, government, language, hunting, and games of his nation.
newspapers
The establishment of several NA newspapers in the 19th century made an important contribution to Native American writing:
the Cherokee Phoenix, first published in 1828,
the Cherokee Advocate, which began publication in 1844 after the Cherokee Nation was removed to Indian Territory.
fiction
Among the prominent 19th-century Native American writers of fiction were:
John Rollin Ridge (Cherokee), who wrote at mid-century,
Emily Pauline Johnson (Mohawk), whose career lasted into the early 20th century.
Ridge
Ridge's Life and Adventures of Joaquín Murieta (1854), the first novel published by a Native American, chronicles the adventures of a Mexican bandit during the California gold rush of 1849. In his depiction of American racial injustice, Ridge not only describes the fate of Mexicans but also of his fellow Native Americans.
Johnson
Johnson was a Canadian Mohawk who spent a great deal of her time touring Canada, England, and the United States as an advocate for Native American people.
Well known as a poet and as a performer of her poetry, she also wrote short stories for popular publications such as Mother's Magazine and Boy's World, which had large circulations.
Johnson's books of poetry include The White Wampum (1895), Canadian Born (1903), and Flint and Feather (1912). Her short stories are collected in Moccasin Maker (1913) and The Shagganappi (1913).
autobiography
Sarah Winnemucca (Paiute) was also a prominent lecturer, writer, and Native American advocate. Her Life Among the Paiutes, Their Wrongs and Claims (1883) was the first Native American autobiography written by a woman.
1900s and 2000s
The novel has become a popular Native American literary genre, along with poetry, the short story, and autobiography. At the same time, Native American scholars have begun investigating Native American history, sociology, ethnography, medicine, education, law, and literary criticism, among other fields.
Stories and Novels
Native American literature of the 20th century was shaped by and helps shape political questions concerning Native American people.
One of the most prominent voices of the early 20th century was Zitkala-Sa (Sioux), also known as Gertrude Simmons Bonnin. Zitkala-Sa became a prominent voice for Native American rights. She published essays in the magazines The Atlantic Monthly and Harper's, edited the American Indian Magazine in 1918 and 1919, and wrote two books, Old Indian Legends (1901) and American Indian Stories (1921).
other political writers
Other political writers, such as Will Rogers (Cherokee) and Alexander Posey (Creek), used satire and humor to express their beliefs.
Charles Eastman (Sioux) continued this tradition of educating through storytelling with the publication of books such as Wigwam Evenings: Folktales Retold (1909). In The Soul of the Indian (1911), Eastman explains the deeper ethical and moral underpinnings of some Lakota beliefs.
anthologies
Since the 1940s, anthologies have played an important role in Native American literature, primarily because they expose readers to different writers and styles.
The Winged Serpent (1946), edited by Margot Astrov (a non-Native American), was the first anthology of Native American literature to gain mainstream popularity.
The anthology form has been especially beneficial to Native American poetry. Some noteworthy anthologies are Carriers of the Dream Wheel: Contemporary Native American Poetry (1975), Remembered Earth: An Anthology of Native American Literature (1979), and That's What She Said: Contemporary Poetry and Fiction by Native American Women (1984).
Red Power
In the mid-1960s Native American writers began to promote Native American culture. A major reason for this resurgence was the Red Power movement that energized Native Americans.
The Red Power movement emphasized developing pride in one's self, sustaining traditional Native American cultures and lands, and supporting Native American rights in the struggles of Native American communities with the government.
identity
An important theme in Native American literature today is the issue of Native American identity—what it means to be Native American.
Winter in the Blood (1974) by James Welch (Blackfoot and Gros Ventre) deals with one man's developing understanding of who he is. Welch's main character comes to understand himself by piecing together his complex family history. Like many other characters in contemporary Native American fiction, Welch's hero suffers problems that have affected many Native American people, such as alcoholism and alienation.
mixed blood
Another concern of Native American literature is the position of people of mixed Native American and non-Native American racial heritage.
Many mixed-blood narratives draw their strength from showing multiple cultural perspectives. Some of the characters in these works seek to understand who they are as people of mixed heritage.
Cogewea, the Half-Blood (1927) by Mourning Dove (Colville), also known as Christine Quintasket, was one of the first novels written by a Native American woman. The book has as its theme the alienation experienced by a woman of mixed race.
House Made of Dawn (1968) by N. Scott Momaday (Kiowa)
Ceremony (1977) by Leslie Marmon Silko (Laguna)
-- explore how persons of mixed races may come to terms with their heritage.
Louise Erdrich (Ojibwa) also takes on issues of cultural identity in her series of books set in North Dakota:
Love Medicine (1984), The Beet Queen (1986), Tracks (1988), and The Bingo Palace (1994).
modern historical novels
Modern historical novels explore tribal histories in order to educate readers of today about complex tribal events.
Fools Crow (1986) by James Welch (Blackfoot and Gros Ventre),
Mean Spirit (1990) by Linda Hogan (Chickasaw),
Other literary forms:
Native American social critics and scholars began to write studies from Native American perspectives. They wrote of how Native American people suffered physical and cultural genocide, and how they are still recovering from those atrocities today.
Fugitive Poses: Native American Indian Scenes of Absence and Presence (1998) by Gerald Vizenor (Ojibwa),
Mixedblood Messages: Literature, Film, Family, Place (1998) by Louis Owens (Choctaw and Cherokee).
One of the best introductions to Native American literature to date is American Indian Literatures: An Introduction, Bibliographic Review, and Selected Bibliography (1990) by A. LaVonne Brown Ruoff (a non-Native American).
Native American poetry
strong genre. Well-known poets:
Maurice Kenny (Mohawk),
Simon J. Ortiz (Acoma),
Wendy Rose (Hopi and Miwok),
Luci Tapahonso (Navajo),
Gail Tremblay (Onondaga and Mi'kmaq),
Elizabeth A. Woody (Navajo, Warm Springs, Wasco, and Yakama).
Native American poetry depicts the importance of land and nature in Native American belief systems. A major theme is how a respect and understanding of the earth can work to heal individuals and communities.
Periodicals
Periodicals continue to serve as a venue for consideration of social, political, and cultural issues.
Nationally distributed Native American newspapers, such as News From Indian Country and Indian Country Today, and numerous tribal newspapers distribute valuable information to the Native American community.
Recent developments:
New NA writers are constantly emerging. Two of the most nationally well known are:
Sherman Alexie (Spokane/Coeur d'Alene), who wrote The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (1993). The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian won the 2007 National Book Award for young people's literature. The New Yorker named him one of the top 20 writers of the 21st century.
Susan Power (Sioux), author of The Grass Dancer (1994).