A Son of the Forest (1829) is an autobiography by William Apes. An indentured servant, soldier, minister, and activist, Apes lived an uncommonly rich life for someone who died at just 41 years of age. Recognized for his pioneering status as a Native American public figure, William Apes was an astute recorder of a life in between. His autobiography explores the psychological effects of oppression, addiction, and cultural change from the viewpoint of a man who experienced them all. “[T]he great fear I entertained of my brethren, was occasioned by the many stories I had heard of their cruelty towards the whites—how they were in the habit of killing and scalping men, women and children. But the whites did not tell me that they were in a great majority of instances the aggressors—that they had imbrued their hands in the life blood of my brethren, driven them from their once peaceful and happy homes…” While out on a berry picking expedition as a boy, William—by then living as an indentured servant with a local white family—spots a group of Native women. From the reaction of his foster family, he realizes for the first time in his life the inherent racial biases he has absorbed despite recognizing his own Pequot heritage. A Son of the Forest is a groundbreaking autobiography from a pioneering author and activist of the early nineteenth century. This edition of William Apes’ A Son of the Forest is a classic of Native American literature reimagined for modern readers.
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William Apes (1798-1839) was a Pequot writer, activist, and minister. Born in northwestern Massachusetts, he was raised in a family of mixed Pequot, African, and European descent. On his mother’s side, he claimed King Philip—a Wampanoag sachem who was assassinated by Plymouth colonists—as his ancestor. Following their parents’ separation, William and his siblings were taken to their maternal grandparents, who abused and neglected them. Soon, they were taken in by local families as indentured servants. At fifteen, he ran away to join a New York militia, serving in the War of 1812, where he developed a lifelong addiction to alcohol. In 1821, having returned to his Pequot family in Massachusetts, Apes married Mary Wood, with whom he had four children. He was ordained a Protestant Methodist minister in 1829, and in the same year published his groundbreaking autobiography A Son of the Forest. Written as a response to the United States government’s policy of Indian Removal, A Son of the Forest was one of the first of its kind from a Native American author, earning Apes a reputation as a leading advocate for his people. In the last decade of his life, Apes worked tirelessly as an activist, lecturer, and writer, supporting the 1833 Mashpee Revolt on Cape Cod and delivering a powerful eulogy on King Philip in 1836.
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