Mary Jemison, Part 2

POV

Accounts of the past are subjected to their time, place, and their authors' perception and motives
Future versions of events are seen through similar lenses
“Captivity and Conversion,” Hilary Wyss
“To be heard in the dominant culture, then, Natives must often negotiate story lines written about them with little regard for their particular experiences.”

Final Words

Narratives and conversion stories memorialized native cultures for Europeans
Stories showed how “progress” removed or replaced Indians
When Mary Jemison's narrative came out, segregation was national policy.
Races were separated; she must be Indian or white
A Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Mary Jemison, 1824, edited by James Seaver

James Seaver

Emphasized “the captive's commitment to Anglo-American culture”
Focused on the cultural and racial differences
Faced and eventually overcome by captives
Captives return to the white settlement
Thrilling, shocking details of frontier hardships
Transformation is feared and struggled against
The problem of "backsliding" or returning to a former way of life haunts the narrative

“A Narrative of the life of Mrs. Mary Jemison, who was taken by the Indians, in the year 1755 [sic],when only about twelve years of age, and has continued to reside amongst them to the present time. Containing an account of the Murder of her Father and his Family; her sufferings; her marriage to two Indians; her troubles with her children; barbarities of the Indians in the French and Revolutionary Wars; the life of her last husband, etc.; and many Historical Facts never before published”

"Strange as it may seem, I loved him!"

Specifically commissioned by some "gentlemen of respectability" to record her narrative not only to preserve certain historical facts but also to "perpetuate the remembrance of the atrocities of the savages in former times"
What about gender roles?
-Women expected to be passive
-Jemison becomes a victim of circumstance
-Biography will teach "pity for the bereaved, benevolence for the destitute, and compassion for the helpless"

Fragility of Conversion

Saw white people a year after capture. Senecas wanted to keep her, hid her away
Some Senecas considered her a witch
Some accused her of having an affair after birthing white babies
Adopted spiritual outlook of the Indians: “connection to the land, to agriculture, and especially to corn reveals important elements of Seneca belief in her life