The Nineteenth-Century American Women Writers Study Group will meet October 7-8, 2022, at Amherst College to visit the remarkable collections of the Kim-Wait/Eisenberg Native American Literature Collection and discuss selected works by Indigenous women: a Native American slave narrative by T’tc~tsa/Lucy Young, a Wailaki (California) woman legally captured and sold over and over again in the early 1860s who recounted her narrative under the Federal Writers Project during the late 1930s; poems and stories by E. Pauline Johnson/Tekahionwake (1861-1913), Mohawk author who performed her works across Canada, the northeastern U.S., and England; and book illustrations by Angel de Cora (1871-1919), Ho-Chunk artist, Indigenous art advocate, and teacher at Carlisle Indian Industrial School.

The organizers—Karen Sanchez-Eppler, site host, and Jeannie Pfaelzer and Laura Mielke, discussion leaders—are excited to extend a welcome to all who wish to attend. They also want to thank Amherst faculty Lisa Brooks and Kiara Vigil for their guidance in planning this gathering.

Readings

NOTE: Digital access to readings will be sent to those who RSVP for the meeting. In the meantime, we will share bibliographic information and links below.

Primary texts

1. Narrative of T’tc~tsa/Lucy Young, as found in “Out of the Past,” California Historical Society Quarterly, volume 20, number 4 (December 1941), pp. 349-364. https://www.jstor.org/stable/25160964.
2. E. Pauline Johnson/Tekahionwake, “A Red Girl’s Reasoning,” “Catherine of the Crow’s Nest,” “Ojistoh,” “A Cry from an Indian Wife,” “The Song My Paddle Sings,” and “This Majesty, the West Wind” [available in Tekahionwake: E. Pauline Johnson’s Writings on Native North America, edited by Margery Fee and Dory Nason (Broadview Press, 2015) and other collections of Johnson’s work; books by Johnson digitized here]
3. Angel de Cora, Illustrations in Zitkala-Ša’s Old Indian Legends and Francis LaFlesche’s The Middle Five.

Secondary texts

1. Jean Pfaelzer, “’That’s history. That’s truth. I Seen It Myself’: A Native American Slave Narrative” in Susan Bernardin’s Routledge Companion to Gender and the American West (2022)
2. Beth Piatote, Domestic Subjects (2013), chapter 2
3. Kelly Wisecup, Assembled for Use (2021), pp. 95-98
4. Caroline Wigginton, Indigenuity (forthcoming 2022), chapter 5 

Schedule and Locations

We will convene Friday, October 7, from 1 to 4pm, on Frost Library A level. During that session, participants will examine items from the Kim-Wait/Eisenberg Native American Literature Collection that represent a wealth of materials showing the diversity of writing and book making by Native women in the long nineteenth century–and beyond. We will connect as well to works by authors read for previous meetings of this group, namely Zitkala-Ša and Sarah Winnemucca.

We encourage all attendees to take time prior to the meeting to explore the collection’s website, including works available digitally. NOTE: If you see an item in the Collection that you would be interested in seeing during our session, please let Karen Sanchez-Eppler know through the RSVP form (link below).

On Saturday, October 8, from 10am to 4pm, we will convene at the Center for Humanistic Inquiry “Think Tank” on the second floor of Frost Library to discuss the readings. In addition, we will ask that those who are able to attend on Friday to come prepared to share with the group their experience with one of the items in the collection. Lunch will be provided by Amherst College. Arrangements for a group dinner forthcoming.

Travel 

• The nearest airport is Bradley International Airport (Hartford/Springfield)
• Peter Pan Bus Lines, in partnership with Greyhound, has regular service to Amherst. Call (800) 237-8747.
• Megabus has daily bus service between Amherst and New York City (through Hartford) 
• Amtrak  now runs a few trains a day to nearby Northampton (The Vermonter running between Washington DC and Vermont now stops in Amherst)

Lodging

Many of the accommodations listed in our original announcement do not have availability. Some Airbnb accommodations are available, and we are working on providing transpiration from hotels in the surrounding area. 

If you plan to attend, please complete this RSVP by September 23, 2022. In the meantime, let us know if you have any questions. We are so excited to bring this group back together, in person, to learn together about these incredible works!

— Karen Sanchez-Eppler, Jeannie Pfaelzer, and Laura Mielke