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Jane Johnston Schoolcraft

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Jane Johnston Schoolcraft (January 31, 1800-May 22, 1842) is the first known American Indian literary writer. She was Ojibwa and Irish-American and wrote her Ojibwa name as Bamewawagezhikaquay. It can also be written as O-bah-bahm-wawa-ge-zhe-go-qua (Obabaamwewe-giizhigokwe in modern spelling), meaning "Woman of the Sound [that the stars make] Rushing Through the Sky." She lived most of her life in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.

Early life and education

Jane Johnston was born in Sault Ste. Marie in the upper peninsula of what is now the state of Michigan. Her mother, Ozhaguscodaywayquay, was the daughter of Waubojeeg, a prominent Ojibwe war chief and civil leader from what is now northern Wisconsin. Her father, John Johnston (1762-1828), was a fur trader who left Belfast, Ireland in 1790. The Johnston family is famous in the Sault Ste. Marie area, where they were leaders in both the Euro-American and the Ojibwe communities, though Jane herself was little known until recently. The young Jane Johnston learned about Ojibwe traditions from her mother and her mother's family, and she learned about written literature from her father and his large library.[1]

Writing

She wrote poetry and traditional Ojibwa stories, and she translated Ojibwa songs into English. She mostly wrote in English, but she wrote several poems in the Ojibwe language, as she lived her daily life in both Ojibwe and English. While she did not publish her work, she lived a literary life with her husband. They worked together closely on his writing and on her writing. Her poetry was generally concerned with private life. [2]

Jane Schoolcraft’s writings have attracted considerable interest from scholars and students, especially those concerned with American Indian literature and history. She has been recognized as "the first Native American literary writer, the first known Indian woman writer, the first known Indian poet, the first known poet to write poems in a Native American language, and the first known American Indian to write out traditional Indian stories."[3] Her role in the American Indian literary canon has been compared to that of Anne Bradstreet in the "broader American literary canon."[4]

Marriage and family

In 1823 Jane married Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, who became a founding figure of American cultural anthropology.[5] He was appointed Indian Agent to the Michigan Territory in 1822.

In 1826-1827, Henry produced a handwritten magazine called The Literary Voyager or Muzzeniegen, which included some of Jane’s writings. The Schoolcrafts' letters to each other during periods of separation often included poetry, showing how they saw literature as part of their daily lives.

Henry won fame for his later publications about American Indians, especially the Ojibwe people and the Ojibwe language (also known as Chippewa and Anishinaabemowin). His work was based on information and stories he learned from Jane Johnston Schoolcraft and the Johnston family. Henry’s publications, including materials written by Jane Schoolcraft, were the main source for Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s The Song of Hiawatha (1855).

Jane and Henry Schoolcraft moved to Mackinac Island in 1833. They had four children (one was stillborn). Their son William Henry died of croup at the age of two. Jane Schoolcraft wrote poems expressing her grief about his loss.[6] Another poem, written in Ojibwe, expresses her feelings after taking their children John and Jane to a distant boarding school.[7] (Use link below to hear poem sung in Ojibwe.)

In 1841, when Henry lost his position as federal Indian agent, the Schoolcrafts moved to New York City. Jane Schoolcraft suffered from frequent illnesses and died in 1842 while visiting a sister in Canada. She was buried at St. John's Anglican Church in what is now Ancaster, Ontario.[8]

Legacy and honors

  • 1962 - Philip P. Mason published an edition of The Literary Voyager. Based on the works in The Literary Voyager, Jane Schoolcraft's writings gradually began to attract interest in the 1990s.
  • 2007 - Robert Dale Parker published a complete edition of Jane Schoolcraft’s extensive writings, based mostly on previously unpublished manuscripts and including a cultural history and biography.[9] In response, Schoolcraft’s writings are now beginning to attract considerable interest from literary scholars and students and from scholars and students of American Indian literature and history.
  • 2008 - Jane Johnston Schoolcraft was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame.[10]
  • "Sweet Willy, My Boy", lyrics of the song were taken from a poem by Jane Johnston Schoolcraft. From Dave Stanaway and Susan Askwith, CD: John Johnston: His Life and Times in the Fur Trade Era.[11]

Citations

  1. ^ Margaret Noori, "Bicultural Before There Was a Word For It", Women's Review of Books, 2008, Wellesley Centers for Women, accessed 12 Dec 2008
  2. ^ Robert Dale Parker, Jane Johnston Schoolcraft, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, accessed 11 Dec 2008
  3. ^ Robert Dale Parker, Jane Johnston Schoolcraft, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, accessed 11 Dec 2008
  4. ^ Margaret Noori, "Bicultural Before There Was a Word For It", Women's Review of Books, 2008, Wellesley Centers for Women, accessed 12 Dec 2008
  5. ^ Jeremy Mumford, "Mixed-Race Identity in a Nineteenth-Century Family: The Schoolcrafts of Sault Ste. Marie, 1824-27", Michigan Historical Review, 22 Mar 1999, p. 1, accessed 11 Dec 2008
  6. ^ Dave Stanaway and Susan Askwith, CD:: John Johnston: His Life and Times in the Fur Trade Era, Borderland Records, accessed 11 Dec 2008
  7. ^ Robert Dale Parker, Jane Johnston Schoolcraft, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, accessed 11 Dec 2008
  8. ^ Robert Dale Parker, Jane Johnston Schoolcraft, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, accessed 11 Dec 2008
  9. ^ Robert Dale Parker, Jane Johnston Schoolcraft, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, accessed 11 Dec 2008
  10. ^ Robert Dale Parker, Jane Johnston Schoolcraft, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, accessed 11 Dec 2008
  11. ^ Dave Stanaway and Susan Askwith, CD:: John Johnston: His Life and Times in the Fur Trade Era, Borderland Records, accessed 11 Dec 2008

References

  • Philip P. Mason, ed., Schoolcraft: The Literary Voyager or Muzzeniegun. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1962.
  • Robert Dale Parker, ed., The Sound the Stars Make Rushing Through the Sky: The Writings of Jane Johnston Schoolcraft. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007.
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