Varieties of American Indian Autobiography

Abstract

Published autobiographies by Native Americans constitute a small but significant part of American literature. Standard bibliographies usually identify some fifty works, almost all of which have been published since 1900.1 Although some of these are virtually impossible to locate, having been printed in small runs at obscure places, many titles-My People the Sioux, Black Elk Speaks, and The Way to Rainy Mountain among them-are widely known. Indian autobiographies deserve our attention not only because they are truly and indisputably American or because, as Luther Standing Bear said about his own story, No one is able to understand the Indian race like the Indian.2 They also represent a diverse and complex literary genre, one that obliges us to consider the nature of autobiographical expression in traditional Indian cultures, the role of outside white influence in the recording of personal experience, and the ultimate esthetic as well as documentary value of the work. To these weighty considerations we must also add the obvious fact that public autobiography (printed autobiography, that is, not traditional forms like family stories or informal personal expression in journals and correspondence) has served different functions for its creators and their people at different times. To some extent it is even possible to examine Native American autobiographies historically as an index to changing Indian attitudes towards their own cultures and their relationships with white civilization.