Writing in Ways Unexpected: Native Americans Using Literacy in the Late 19th Century

During the 1880s, many western Native Americans began using literacy, meant to be a tool of assimilation, for their own purposes.  Despite the United States government’s efforts to confine them to their reservations, Native Americans were able to express themselves outside of white control.  Natives communicated with other tribes living on distant reservations, using the written word in ways unanticipated by government policy makers.  Letters allowed Natives to spread news, ideas, and religious beliefs like the ghost dance.  Tribes without a previous relationship could forge new bonds and those with a history of conflict could make peace.  The English language allowed groups outside of the same language family to communicate more effectively. 

Natives also used literacy to communicate their thoughts extra-tribally to the white world in an effort to establish some degree of sovereignty.  Indians used letters to question the power of the government over their lives, to demand change, to remind officials about the government’s obligations, to voice their support or opposition to government decisions.  They wrote to oppose allotment and defend their lands rights.  Letters criticized the inefficiency, corruption, or immorality of agents, policemen, and even missionaries.  Many used letters to supersede the authority of their reservation agents, writing instead to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, congressmen, and the President directly.  Others wrote to whites outside of the government to right wrongs, sending letters to the Indian Rights Association and even newspapers.