Samson Occom, Mohegan: Collected Writings by the Founder of Native American Literature

FAIN: FT-51706-03

Joanna M. Brooks
University of Texas at Austin (Austin, TX 78712-0100)

I propose to produce the first scholarly edition of writings by Samson Occom. Occom (1723-1792) was a Mohegan tribal leader, Presbyterian minister, intertribal political activist, and the first published Native American author. His short autobiography (1768) and best-selling "Sermon at the Execution of Moses Paul" (1772) have joined the early American literary canon. Still, a major collection of his archived writings remain unknown to all but a few professional scholars. By presenting newly recovered diaries, letters, and hymns, this volume will contribute significantly to American and Native American literary, cultural, and historical studies. It will more than double the known extent of Native American writing before 1800.