Early Native Literacies in New England: A Documentary and Critical Anthology

288 Pages·2008·3.611 MB·English

by  Kristina Bross, Hilary Wyss

Early Native Literacies
in New England
(cid:1)(cid:2)
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A volume in the series
Native Americans of the Northeast: History, Culture,
and the Contemporary
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Early Native Literacies

in New England
A Documentary and
Critical Anthology
Edited by
Kristina Bross and Hilary E. Wyss
(cid:1)(cid:2)
University of Massachusetts Press
amherst
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Copyright © 2008 by University of Massachusetts Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
LC 2008oo3196
ISBN 978-1-55849-648-4 (paper); 647-7 (library cloth)
Designed by Dennis Anderson
Set in Adobe Jenson Pro by dix! Digital Prepress
Printed and bound by The Maple-Vail Book Manufacturing Group
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Early native literacies in New England : a documentary and critical anthology / edited by
Kristina Bross and Hilary E. Wyss.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-55849-648-4 (pbk. : alk. paper)—
ISBN 978-1-55849-647-7 (library cloth : alk. paper)
1. Algonquian Indians—Material culture. 2. Algonquian Indians—Colonization.
3. Algonquian Indians—Communication. 4. Algonquian languages—Writing.
5. Algonquian languages—Texts. 6. Written communication—New England—History.
7. New England—Antiquities. I. Bross, Kristina. II. Wyss, Hilary E.
E99.A35E37 2008
974.004'973—dc22
2008003196
British Library Cataloguing in Publication data are available.
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Contents
Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
1 The Mohegans 15
Oweneco, “Letter of Instruction from Oanhekoe, Sachem
of the Mohegan Indians in New England, 14 July 1703” 19
David Murray, “Letter of Instruction from Oanhekoe,
Sachem of the Mohegan Indians, 14 July 1703” 21
Joseph Johnson, “Diary, 1773” 28
Laura J. Murray, “Joseph Johnson’s Diary, Farmington,
Connecticut, 18 November 1772 to 1 February 1773” 42
“Mohegan Wood-Splint Basket” 51
Stephanie Fitzgerald, “The Cultural Work of a
Mohegan Painted Basket” 52
Samson Occom, “Temperance and Morality Sermon” 57
Heather Bouwman, “Samson Occom and the
Sermonic Tradition” 63
“Title Pages from Samson Occom’s Sermon Preached
at the Execution of Moses Paul” 72
Phillip H. Round, “Samson Occom and Native Print Literacy” 75
2 The Narragansetts 84
Sarah Pharaoh, “The Case of Sarah Pharaoh” 86
Ann Marie Plane, “The Dreadful Case of Sarah Pharaoh:
Finding Native Women’s Voices in an Eighteenth-Century
Infanticide Case” 88
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vi · Contents
Sarah Simon, “Letter to Eleazar Wheelock, 1769” 93
Hilary E. Wyss, “Writing Back to Wheelock: One
Young Woman’s Response to Colonial Christianity” 96
3 Natick 105
Samuel Ponampam, “Confession Narrative, 1656” 108
Kristina Bross, “Temptation in the Wilderness:
Ponampam’s Confession” 110
“Natick Indian Petition, 1748” 119
Jean O’Brien, “‘Our Old and Valluable Liberty’:
A Natick Indian Petition in Defense of Their Fishing
Rights, 1748” 123
4 The Pequots 130
“Pequot Medicine Bundle” 132
Kevin A. McBride, “Bundles, Bears, and Bibles: Interpreting
Seventeenth-Century Native ‘Texts’” 132
“The Confession and Dying Warning of Katherine Garret” 142
Jodi Schorb, “Seeing Other Wise: Reading a Pequot
Execution Narrative” 148
5 The Wampanoags 162
“Mittark’s Will, 1681/1703” 164
David J. Silverman, “ ‘We Chief Men Say This’:
Wampanoag Memory, English Authority, and the
Contest over Mittark’s Will” 166
“The Hannit Family, in Experience Mayhew’s
Indian Converts” 174
Laura Arnold Leibman, “Tradition and Innovation in a
Colonial Wampanoag Family from Martha’s Vineyard” 191
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Contents · vii
6 Intertribal Conversations 198
“Pictograph Image on a 1725 Treaty” (Wabanaki) 201
Heidi Bohaker, “Reading Expressions of Identity on
a 1725 Peace and Friendship Treaty” 201
“Montaukett Petition, 1788” 213
Joanna Brooks, “‘This Indian World’: A Petition/Origin
Story from Samson Occom (Mohegan) and the
Montaukett Tribe” 215
Hendrick Aupaumut (Mahican/Stockbridge),
A Short narration of my last Journey to the western Contry 223
Sandra M. Gustafson, “Historical Introduction to
Hendrick Aupaumut’s Short Narration” 237
Sandra M. Gustafson, “Hendrick Aupaumut and the
Cultural Middle Ground” 242
Bibliography 251
Contributors 269
Index 273
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Illustrations
Letter of Instruction from Oanhekoe, sachem of
the Mohegan Indians, 14 July 1703 17–18, 21
Oweneco’s marks 27
Wood-splint basket (Mohegan) 51
Title pages from Moses Paul’s execution sermon by
Samson Occom (Mohegan) 72, 73, 74
Sarah Simon (Narragansett), Letter to
Eleazar Wheelock, 1769 94–95
Natick Indian petition, 1748 120–121
Pictograph image on a 1725 treaty (Wabanaki) 202
ix
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