S. Alice Callahan | Biography

Not only is S. Alice Callahan's Wynema: A Child of the Forest (1891) believed to be the first novel written by a Native American woman, it is also thought to be the first novel written in Oklahoma, then Indian Territory. The book enjoyed some success after its publication, receiving notice in the newspaper of the Muskogee Indian Territory, Our Brother in Red (6 June 1891). The reviewer identified Callahan as a high-school teacher at Harrell's Institute and a Creek Indian and noted, "She is an intelligent, Christian lady and we look forward with pleasure to the time when our other duties will permit us to read the book. It is certainly cheap at 25 per copy."

The book was mentioned again in 1911 in an article about the death of Callahan's father, but then disappeared from circulation until 1955, when an Oklahoma historian, Carolyn Thomas Foreman, discovered a copy in...
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