Ogimawkwe Mitigwaki (Queen of the Woods)

Simon Pokagon

• Publisher: Michigan State University Press
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN:
  9780870139871
• eBook ISBN:
  9781628951028
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literary Criticism
• Index: Literature

Simon Pokagon, the son of tribal patriarch Leopold Pokagon, was a talented writer, advocate for the Pokagon Potawatomi community, and tireless self-promoter.
In 1899, shorty after his death, Pokagon's novel Ogimawkwe Mitigwaki (Queen of the Woods)—only the second ever published by an American Indian—appeared. It was intended to be a testimonial to the traditions, stability, and continuity of the Potawatomi in a rapidly changing world. Read today, Queen of the Woods is evidence of the author's desire to mark the cultural, political, and social landscapes with a memorial to the past and a monument to a future that included the Pokagon Potawatomi as distinct and honored people.
This new edition offers a reprint of the original 1899 novel with the author's introduction to the language and culture of his people. In addition, new accompanying materials add context through a cultural biography, literary historical analysis, and linguistic considerations of the unusual text.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Foreword to the Current Edition
• The Architecture of Simon Pokagon—In Text and on Display
• Turn of the Century Indian Intellectualism: Language and Literacy in Simon Pokagon's Queen of the Woods
• Reading Queen of the Woods Today
• A Brief Sketch of Chief Simon Pokagon's Life
• The Algonquin Language
• Editorial Note
• Ogimawkwe Mitigwaki/Queen of the Woods
• Appendix 1: Pokagon's Address at the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893
• Appendix 2: Pokagon's Address at the Gem Opera House at Liberty, Indiana, January 7, 1898
• Selected Bibliography