Native American Autobiography, Nineteenth Century
Native American autobiographies of the nineteenth century have a peculiar difficulty: both the authenticity of Native American authorship and the applicability of the term “autobiography” are questioned by scholars. Situated during the transition from oral to written literature, most of these works were edited and/or translated by members of white society, and therefore are commonly identified as “collaborative” projects. The earliest narratives were written by Native Americans converted to Christianity, and simultaneously romanticised “primitive” existence and vilified so-called “heathen” beliefs. Throughout the ninteenth century—particularly with the rise of enforced assimilation, the establishement of reservations, and the end of military resistence—narratives become increasingly secular and concerned with the political situation of Native Americans.