Native American Literature

Native American Literature, the literature of people of Native American descent. The dominant focus of Native American literature is on issues related to Native American culture, history, religion, and experiences.

Although native peoples live in every country in North America and South America, the term Native American literature, or alternately, American Indian literature, usually refers to works written by the indigenous people of the United States and Canada. In Canada, this literature is also called First Nations literature. Because more than 1,100 nations, or tribes, of Native Americans live in the United States and Canada, Native American literature encompasses many different social, cultural, historical, and spiritual perspectives.

Native American literature originates in the oral traditions of native peoples—the spoken words used to pass on information from generation to generation. Today, the oral tradition remains important to Native American life and literature, and ceremonies and religious rituals are often known solely through the spoken word. At the same time, written works offer the advantage of publishing ideas, stories, and thoughts to a wide audience. Native American literature has been published since the 1700s and has grown steadily since the 1960s.

For information on indigenous literature of Central America and South America, see Latin American Literature. For information on indigenous literature of the Caribbean region, see Caribbean Literature.

II

ORAL TRADITIONS

Oral traditions are an important part of Native American culture. Traditional Native American beliefs hold that thought and speech are tied to each another. Thoughts have creative power, and the spoken word, as the physical expression of thought, is sacred. Good thoughts and good words express positive energy, while bad thoughts and bad words express negative energy.

In addition to using writing systems, Native Americans in earlier times passed down tribal knowledge in spoken forms such as speeches, songs, stories, ceremonies, chants, and rituals. The first Native American works written in European languages were transcribed speeches and treaties with European colonists. These speeches and treaties date to the 1600s and 1700s. Today, Native American oral literature encompasses many literary forms, and of these forms, songs and stories are among the most important.

Songs are composed by individuals, groups, and supernatural sources. Traditional beliefs hold that songs can create harmony. Each tribe has its own songs, as well as songs that are shared among tribes, and songs can be categorized according to their use, such as for religious ceremonies or for social events. Drums and flutes are two of the most popular musical instruments. Songs are most often accompanied by dance.

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. Although the details of stories found in different tribes may differ, the tales often have similar themes. One common theme is the creation of the world. Another is the theme of a people’s origins and migrations. In addition, most tribes have numerous stories about individual figures such as tricksters (figures who teach lessons through making mistakes) and mythical heroes. For example, the Ojibwa people tell stories about Nanabozho, their trickster figure. Likewise, Cherokee people are familiar with Kanati, the Perfect Hunter, and his wife Selu, or Corn.

Oral literature remained important in Native American life through the 20th century and will continue to be important in the 21st century. One of the most influential works of modern oral literature was the narrated autobiography of Black Elk (a Lakota). The book 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. In addition, many modern written works show the influence of oral literature. The Way to Rainy Mountain (1969) by N. Scott Momaday (Kiowa) and Storyteller (1981) by Leslie Marmon Silko (Laguna) express the importance of the spoken word as it has been passed from generation to generation.

III

WRITTEN LITERATURE

Before Native Americans came into contact with Europeans, many tribes supplemented the spoken word with pictographs (symbols or pictures that represent words or ideas). Native Americans used pictographs to record important events and rituals. After Europeans began arriving in great numbers in the 1600s, many tribes used European writing systems to communicate with the colonizers. After seeing the usefulness of written language, a Cherokee named Sequoyah developed a written form of the Cherokee language. Sequoyah was the first individual to design a written language without using other languages as sources.

Extensive Native American writing began in the 18th century as an act of necessity, as Native Americans tried to save their nations, themselves, and their cultures from destruction by whites. Many of the early European colonizers of North America did not recognize Native Americans as human beings with their own cultures and histories, and much bloodshed resulted as Native Americans were displaced from their land. By writing about their experiences, Native American writers hoped to educate non-Native Americans about Native American cultures and beliefs, and about their rights as sovereign human beings. They believed that their written work (autobiographies, tribal histories, travel accounts, sermons, and protest literature) would help foster understanding between Native Americans and non-Native Americans.

While there was an extensive amount of Native American writing published in the 1800s, Native American literature did not receive much popular recognition until the second half of the 1900s. In 1968 N. Scott Momaday (Kiowa) published the novel House Made of Dawn, which won the Pulitzer Prize. The acclaim Momaday received helped Native American literature attain wide public attention. Since the late 1960s hundreds of works by and about Native Americans have been published, and the period from the late 1960s to the present has been referred to as the Native American Literary Renaissance.

Many modern writers are motivated by a need to educate non-Native Americans about Native American people. They also write specifically for Native American audiences, celebrating their nations and the ability of their peoples to survive hundreds of years of colonization, prejudice, and assaults on their culture.

A

1700s and 1800s

Some of the earliest written works by Native Americans were religious sermons and protest works. Many Native Americans converted to Christianity as a result of contact with non-Native communities, and they argued against the poor treatment of their fellow Native Americans by showing how this treatment contradicted Christian values. For example, 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, while 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.

Many Native American 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. Tribal histories explained the deep ties that tribes had to their ancestral homelands. Beginning in the 18th century, these ties took on special meaning because the United States government began removing Native Americans from their traditional lands. These removals forced Native Americans to uproot their families and travel hundreds of miles to unfamiliar lands. Along with losing their possessions and their homelands, Native Americans suffered great casualties during these forced removals. Among the worst removals was the Trail of Tears of 1838 and 1839, when thousands of Cherokee were forced to journey from their homeland in the Southeast out to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). Of the 18,000 Cherokee who traveled the Trail of Tears, about 4,000 died of starvation, exposure, disease, and despair.

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. Other Native Americans who wrote about their cultures and nations include Peter Dooyentate Clarke (Wyandot), with his Origin and Traditional History of the Wyandotts, and Sketches of Other Indian Tribes of North America (1870); Chief Elias Johnson (Tuscarora), with his Legends, Traditions and Laws, of the Iroquois (1881); and Chief Andrew J. Blackbird (Ottawa), with his History of the Ottawa and Chippewa Indians of Michigan (1887).

The establishment of several Native American newspapers in the 19th century made an important contribution to Native American writing. Among these newspapers were the Cherokee Phoenix, first published in 1828, and the Cherokee Advocate, which began publication in 1844 after the Cherokee Nation was removed to Indian Territory. Other notable newspapers included Copway’s American Indian, the White Earth Progress, the White Earth Tomahawk, and Wassaja.

Among the prominent 19th-century Native American writers of fiction were John Rollin Ridge (Cherokee), who wrote at mid-century, and Emily Pauline Johnson (Mohawk), whose career lasted into the early 20th century. 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 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). 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.

B

1900s and 2000s

Native American writers since 1900 have continued the traditions of their predecessors, but their styles and forms have evolved. 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. In the past, Native American writers and scholars sought primarily to educate non-Native American people about Native Americans, but today many Native Americans write for the benefit of Native American audiences.

Native American writing began to evolve new genres in part because of the influence of government-run boarding schools. For generations, many Native Americans learned English in mission schools (schools run by churches). But, beginning in 1879 with the establishment of a school for Native Americans at the U.S. Army’s Carlisle Barracks in Pennsylvania, many Native American children were forced to attend off-reservation schools.

While sometimes living hundreds of miles away from their homes, children attending the off-reservation schools were punished for speaking their native languages and were told that their traditional ways of life were inferior to those of non-Native Americans. The result was that many Native Americans were taught conventional American subjects, with special emphasis on reading and writing in traditional European literary genres. They were later able to employ these skills in new and innovative ways for their people’s own ends, but because they were also urged to view their own cultures as inferior, some of the students found themselves alienated from their own people when they returned home. Francis La Flesche of the Omaha wrote about his school experiences in The Middle Five, Indian Boys at School (1900).

B1

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, 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.

Two popular political writers of the first half of the 20th century were John Joseph Mathews (Osage) and D’Arcy McNickle (Cree and Salish). Matthews’ Sundown (1934) and McNickle’s The Surrounded (1936) argue that cultural survival depends upon fighting the assimilation of Native Americans into mainstream American society. Matthews and McNickle published their novels during the 1930s, a decade that saw the U.S. government loosen its assimilation policies regarding Native Americans.

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).

In the 1950s and early 1960s, little Native American literature was produced. One of the major reasons was that the political climate in North America was hostile to tribal traditions, making it difficult to publish works dealing with Native American life. But in the mid-1960s Native American writers began again to promote Native American culture. A major reason for this resurgence was the Red Power movement. While groups such as the Black Panthers and La Raza Unida fought for African American and Chicano rights, the Red Power movement 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.

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) is an important work that 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.

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) and 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).

Other works of Native American literature concentrate on the dynamic aspect of Native American cultures—their ability to grow and change. Some writers who portray modern life in all its complexity are Joy Harjo (Creek), Gerald Vizenor (Ojibwa), and Ray A. Young Bear (Mesquakie).

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), and Mountain Windsong (1992) by Robert J. Conley (Cherokee) seek to remind readers of important events of the past.

B2

Other Literary Forms

In the late 20th century Native American writers began publishing more works in genres other than fiction. In the 1970s, 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. They also showed the resiliency of Native American nations, marveling at how Native American people have survived 500 years of conquest.

Custer Died For Your Sins (1969) by Vine Deloria, Jr., (Lakota Sioux) is a classic work of Native American intellectualism and political analysis. Other noteworthy scholarly works include Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions (1986) by Paula Gunn Allen (Laguna and Sioux), Tribal Secrets: Recovering American Indian Intellectual Traditions (1994) by Robert Allen Warrior (Osage), Why I Can’t Read Wallace Stegner and Other Essays (1996) by Elizabeth Cook-Lynn (Dakota Sioux), Fugitive Poses: Native American Indian Scenes of Absence and Presence (1998) by Gerald Vizenor (Ojibwa), and 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 is another strong genre. Well-known poets include Lance Henson (Northern Cheyenne), Roberta Hill (Oneida), Maurice Kenny (Mohawk), Simon J. Ortiz (Acoma), Wendy Rose (Hopi and Miwok), Luci Tapahonso (Navajo), Gail Tremblay (Onondaga and Mi’kmaq), and Elizabeth A. Woody (Navajo, Warm Springs, Wasco, and Yakama). Native American poetry often 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 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.

B3

Recent Developments

New Native American 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), among other works, and Susan Power (Sioux), author of The Grass Dancer (1994). Both books have garnered popular success. Other writers include D. L. Birchfield (Choctaw), A. A. Carr (Navajo and Laguna), and Irvin Morris (Navajo), to name only a few.

Native American literature continues to evolve and change, but the characteristics that define Native American literature—its vital role in publicizing the concerns of Native American communities and nations, its contemplation of identity, its portrayal of complex tribal histories, and its steadfast belief in diverse Native American traditions—will assuredly be present in the future.