The Hiawatha Legends

by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft

This is the reprint of Schoolcraft's original 1856 work. A wonderful collection of North American Indian legends are within this cover, a must for every collector of Indian lore. Over 40 stories of Native American myths and legends.

Genres: Mythology, History, Nonfiction, Native Americans, Native American

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1856

About the author

Henry Rowe Schoolcraft (March 28, 1793 – December 10, 1864) was an American geographer, geologist, and ethnologist, noted for his early studies of Native American cultures, as well as for his 1832 expedition to the source of the Mississippi River. He is also noted for his major six-volume study of American Indians in the 1850s.

He served as a United States Indian agent for a period beginning in 1822 in Michigan, where he married Jane Johnston, mixed-race daughter of a prominent Scotch-Irish fur trader and Ojibwa mother, herself a daughter of Ojibwa war chief Waubojeeg. She taught him the Ojibwe language and much about her maternal culture. They had several children, two of whom survived past childhood. She is now recognized as the first Native American literary writer in the United States.

In 1846 the widower Schoolcraft was commissioned by Congress for a major study, known as Indian Tribes of the United States, which was published in six volumes from 1851 to 1857. He married again in 1847, to Mary Howard, from a slaveholding family in South Carolina. In 1860 she published the bestselling The Black Gauntlet, an anti-Uncle Tom's Cabin novel.

Reviews

[Rex Libris · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of legends and myths of primarily the midwest Native American tribes.

Why this collection is important is Schoolcraft was more or the less the first scholar to collect these and present them in a sympathetic manner

[Gina · Rating 1 out of 5]

I nearly didn't read it at all, because the introduction was so condescending and offensive in its attitude toward the Indians. I decided to go for it anyway, because probably when it got into the actual relating of the oral traditions it would be better. That was mostly true, but still there are probably better sources.

Even reading Annie Miner Peterson's biography, where they included the transcription of an interview of her working with a professor collecting the lore, she gives better context and understanding, despite the format of the tale being very similar.

Also, Schoolcraft conflates Hiawatha with Manbozho, and while he does not interchange the names it still shows a poor understanding.

Reading that after his part Indian wife died he married a slaveholders daughter who wrote a pro-slavery novel and created a rift between him and his children from his first marriage isn't surprising.

[Frederick · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are a few stories worth reading in this book, but there is more variety in "The Book of Nature Myths", compiled by Florence Holbrook. After a while, this book just became rather repetitive.