First White Frost

by Homer R. Noley

The history of the Methodist attempt to evangelize Native Americans is riddled with spectacular failures as well as dramatic successes.  In this balanced yet forthright account, Homer Noley helps you gain new insights and a richer understanding of Methodist missionary activities with native Americans from the 1600s to today.

276 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1991

Reviews

[Gerri Grady]

I just started on this book. I've been a Methodist since I was birth (I suppose), starting church in the Big Cove section of the Cherokee Indian Reservation (Qualla Boundary) of the Eastern Band of Cherokees. I stumbled across this book when I was doing an inventory of the books here in my office - I noticed it because of the photo on the cover of congregation members of my church - the Cherokee United Methodist Church in Cherokee, NC. I was sad to learn that Mr. Noley had passed away and I couldn't ask him why he didn't include my church in his study but used the photo from it. I think my church has a rich history here in Cherokee and we've always sent representatives to the conferences. The chapter title "Those Manlike Creatures from the Americas" still disturbs me - that Native Americans could be described so. I'll try to post an actual review when I finish the book.

[NancyL Luckey · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're into history and how we treated the Native Americans when we took over their land, this is a textbook written in readable form. Personally, I don't want to be reminded how horrible we were.