Native American Authors
Simon Pokagon , 1830-1899
Potawatomi
Simon Pokagon was born in Indiana, but his family moved near Dowagiac, Michigan during his youth. Pokagon went to Notre Dame (manual labor school) for three years. He then attended Twinsburg Institute in Ohio. He became a well-known public figure due to a trip to Washington as part of the Potawatomi delegation, his autobiography Queen of the Woods, and his popular public speaking engagements. Pokagon wrote his autobiography originally in the Potawatomi language, and then translated it into English. It should be noted that according to the book The Pokagons, 1683-1983: Catholic Potawatomi Indians of the St. Joseph River Valley by James A. Clifton, Simon Pokagon was never a chief of his tribe, and his autobiography was largely a work of fiction written by the wife of his personal attorney, Cyrus H. Engle. See pp. 78, 85, 92-93, 95, 97-98, 103-104.
Online resources by or about Simon Pokagon:
The Future of the Red Man by Simon PokagonAuthor: University of Virginia Electronic Text Archive
Type: etext
Description: Full text of the article by Simon Pokagon.
URL: http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/cgibin/browse-mixed?id=PokFutu&tag=public&images=images/modeng&data=/lv1/Archive/eng-parsed
An Indian on the Problems of His Race by Simon Pokagon
Author: University of Virginia Electronic Text Archive
Type: etext
Description: Full text of the article by Simon Pokagon.
URL: http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/cgibin/browse-mixed?id=PokIndi&tag=public&images=images/modeng&data=/lv1/Archive/eng-parsed
Indian Superstitions and Legends by Simon Pokagon
Author: University of Virginia Electronic Text Archive
Type: etext
Description: Full text of the article by Simon Pokagon.
URL: http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/cgibin/browse-mixed?id=PokSupe&tag=public&images=images/modeng&data=/lv1/Archive/eng-parsed
Simon Pokagon on Naming the Indians
Author: University of Virginia Electronic Text Archive
Type: etext
Description: Full text of the article by Simon Pokagon.
URL: http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/browse-mixed-new?id=PokFutu&tag=public&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed
Books by Simon Pokagon:
Pokagon, Simon. Algonquin legends of South HavenSouth Haven, MI. : C. H. Engle, 1900.
Genre: Folklore
Audience: All Ages
Pokagon, Simon. Birch bark booklets
Genre: Folklore
Audience: All Ages
Pokagon, Simon. The Chi-kog-on of the Red Man
New York : New York Sunday Press, 1897.
Language: English
Pokagon, Simon. O-gi-maw-kwe mit-i-gwa-ki (Queen of the woods)
Hartford, Mich. : C. H. Engle, 1899.
Genre: Autobiography
Audience: Adult
Pokagon, Simon. Pottawattamie book of genesis : legend of the creation of man
Hartford, MI : C. H. Engle, 1901.
Genre: Folklore
Audience: All Ages
Pokagon, Simon. Red man's greeting
Hartford, MI : C. H. Engle, 1893.
Genre: Essays
Audience: All Ages
Pokagon, Simon. The red man's rebuke
Hartford, MI : C. H. Engle, 1893.
Genre: Essays
Audience: All Ages
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