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Chapter 20 - Race and Ethnicity

Native Americans

from Part III - Historical and Cultural Contexts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 December 2019

By
Kerry Driscoll
Edited by
John Bird
John Bird
Affiliation:
Winthrop University
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Summary

Mark Twain’s attitudes toward Native Americans is complex and more troubled than his attitudes toward other racial and ethnic groups. His exposure to native tribes in Nevada and California during his days in the West shattered his romantic illusions about Indian life gained from his childhood reading of James Fenimore Cooper and other writers, and his writing in the time is virulently racist against Native Americans. His views may have softened somewhat later in his life, and there is evidence that he supported pro-Indian charities and efforts. But overall, his attitudes mirror those of white Americans at the time, which included wars against the Indians and removal to reservations.

Keywords

Mark TwainSamuel ClemensraceethnicityNative AmericansIndiansprejudice
Type
Chapter
Information
Mark Twain in Context , pp. 203 - 212
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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References

Works Cited

Collins, Lewis. History of Kentucky. Covington: Collins, 1982.Google Scholar
Trabue, Daniel. Westward into Kentucky: The Narrative of Daniel Trabue. Ed. Raymond, Chester. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1981.Google Scholar
Twain, Mark. Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer among the Indians and Other Unfinished Stories. Ed. Armon, Dahlia et al. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989.Google Scholar
Twain, Mark. “In Defense of Harriet Shelley.” 1888. MS. Mark Twain Papers. Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Twain, Mark. Letter to Grover Cleveland. Feb. 23, 1886. MS. Mark Twain Papers. Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Varble, Rachel M. Jane Clemens: The Story of Mark Twain’s Mother. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1964.Google Scholar

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