William Apess | |
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| Born | 1798 Colrain, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | April 10, 1839 (aged 40) New York City, New York, U.S. |
William Apess (1798–1839, Pequot) (also known as William Apes before 1837), was a Methodist minister, writer, and activist of mixed-race descent. Apess spent most of his career in New England.
In 1829 he published A Son of the Forest, one of the first autobiographies by a Native American writer. Apess was part Pequot by descent, especially through his mother's family, and identified with their culture. Later in life, he was adopted by the Mashpee tribe.
In recent decades, Apess's works have been frequently anthologized in collections of American literature, alongside other early American Native writers like Samson Occom and Jane Johnston Schoolcraft.[1] Apess has been described as "perhaps the most successful activist on behalf of Native American rights in the antebellum United States."[2]
- ^ Levine, Robert S.; Gustafson, Sandra M., eds. (2022), The Norton Anthology of American Literature (10th ed.), Norton, ISBN 9780393884425.
- ^ Bizzell, Patricia (2006), "(Native) American Jeremiad: The 'Mixedblood' Rhetoric of William Apess", in Stromberg, Ernest (ed.), American Indian Rhetorics of Survivance: Word Medicine, Word Magic, University of Pittsburgh Press.