George Copway (Kahgegagahbowh, 1818-69), an Ojibwe writer and lecturer, rose to prominence in American literary, political, and social circles during the mid-nineteenth century. His colorful, kaleidoscopic life took him from the tiny Ojibwe village of his youth to the halls of state legislatures throughout the eastern United States and eventually overseas. Copway converted to Methodism as a teenager and traveled throughout the Midwest as a missionary, becoming a forceful and energetic spokesperson for temperance and the rights and sovereignty of Indians, lecturing to large crowds in the...

"A sketch of my nation's history, describing its home, its country, and its peculiarities, and...its traditional legends," written by George Copway, (also known as Kah-Ge-Ga-Gah-Bowh, Chief of the Ojibway Nation), and first published in England, in 1850. A thorough examination of Ojibway Indian history, culture, traditions, and beliefs, by a chief who had one foot in the life of his tribe and the other in the white world. Includes discussions of Indian writing and language, along with illustrations depicting various symbols used in picture writing. Copway offers one of the earliest arguments...

The Traditional History and Characteristic Sketches of the Ojibway Nation (1850) was one of the first books of Indigenous history written by an Indigenous author. The book blends nature writing and narrative to describe the language, religious beliefs, stories, land, work, and play of the Ojibway people. Shelley Hulan's afterword considers Copway's rhetorical strategies in framing a narrative--she considers it a form of "history, interrupted"--for a non-Indigenous readership.