Title: On our own ground
First published: 1992
Description: This book brings together all of the known writings of William Apess, a Native American of mixed Pequot and white parentage who fought for the United States in the War of 1812, became a Methodist minister in 1829, and championed the rights of the Mashpee tribe on Cape Cod in the 1830s. Apess's A Son of the Forest, originally published in 1829, was the first extended autobiography by an American Indian. Readable and engaging, it is not only a rare statement by a Native American, but also an unusually full document in the history of New England native peoples. Another piece in the collection, The Experiences of Five Christian Indians of the Pequo[d] Tribe (1833), concludes with an eloquent and unprecedented attack on Euro-American racism entitled "An Indian's Looking-Glass for the White Man." Also included are Apess's account of the "Mashpee Revolt" of 1833-34, when the Native Americans of Mashpee petitioned the government of Massachusetts for the right to elect their own representatives, and his Eulogy on King Philip, an address delivered in Boston in 1836 to mark the 160th anniversary of King Philip's War. In his extensive introduction to the volume, Barry O'Connell reconstructs the story of Apess's life, situates him in the context of early nineteenth-century Pequot society, and interprets his writings both as a literary act and as an expression of emerging Native American politics.
Subjects: Indians of North America, Indians, Treatment of, Pequot Indians, Treatment of Indians, New England, Indiens d'Amérique, Pequot (Indios), Tratamiento de Indios, Apes, William, b.1798., Indians of North America -- New England., Indians, Treatment of -- New England., Pequot Indians., Fiction, short stories (single author)
Places: New England
People: William Apess (b. 1798)
LC classification: E78.N5 A64 1992