To the American Indian: the Unique Personal Account of a Yurok Native American Woman of Northern California

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An important voice for her people by the first published Native American female author

Lucy Thompson (or to give her the correct Yurok name Che-na-wah Weitch-ah-wah) was notable among authors since she was the first Native American woman ever to write a book and have it published in the English language. Although this book first appeared in 1916, it received ‘The American Book Award’ in 1992. Born in the Klamath River village of Pecwan, Northern California in the later 19th century as a member of the Yurok tribal elite, Lucy Thompson married Milton ‘Jim’ Thompson. Her original intention for the book was that it would record the traditional stories of the Yurok which were being lost to posterity though, perhaps inevitably, the book also brought attention to the injustices and violence that had been brought upon the indigenous peoples of her region by ‘white’ settlers in what she considered to be deliberate acts of attempted genocide. This is a remarkable book on many counts and is rightly considered outstanding as the voice of an early feminist and champion of Native American rights.

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