Life, Letters and Speeches

by George Copway, A. Lavonne Brown Ruoff (Editor), Donald B. Smith (Editor)

George Copway (Kahgegagahbowh, 1818–69), an Ojibwe writer and lecturer, rose to prominence in American literary, political, and social circles during the mid-nineteenth century. His colorful, kaleidoscopic life took him from the tiny Ojibwe village of his youth to the halls of state legislatures throughout the eastern United States and eventually overseas. Copway converted to Methodism as a teenager and traveled throughout the Midwest as a missionary, becoming a forceful and energetic spokesperson for temperance and the rights and sovereignty of Indians, lecturing to large crowds in the United States and Europe, and founding a newspaper devoted to Native issues.

 

One of the first Native American autobiographies, Life, Letters and Speeches chronicles Copway's unique and often difficult cultural journey, vividly portraying the freedom of his early childhood, the dramatic moment of his spiritual awakening to Methodism, the rewards and frustrations of missionary work, his desperate race home to warn of a pending Sioux attack, and the harrowing rescue of his son from drowning.

Genres: Native Americans, Native American, History

258 pages, Paperback

Published April 1, 2006

About the author

Born in Trenton, Ontario, in 1818, George Copway (Kah-ge-ga-gah-bowh) wrote extensively on Aboriginal peoples and, as an ordained Methodist minister, worked as a missionary among several tribes. He is the author of several books, including The Life, History and Travels of Kah-ge-ga-gah-bowh (1847).

Reviews

[Ishita]

A fascinating look into the life of Canada's first published Indigenous author.