SOURCE: “Samson Occom: Mohegan Missionary and Writer of the 18th Century,” in The American Indian Quarterly, Vol. 6, Nos. 3 & 4, Fall/Winter, 1982, pp. 208-17.

In the essay below, Peyer characterizes Occom as “the ‘father’ of modern Native American literature.”

Native American scholarship began early in the 17th century—almost immediately after the foundation of the first New England colonies—as a consequence of efforts made by elergymen such as John Eliot and Thomas Mayhew who hoped to speed up the dissemination of Christianity by educating Native Americans and training them as missionaries. In 1665, the Harvard Indian College commenced offering courses for Native Americans in English, Latin and Greek until 1693, when that institution was again closed down. The missionaries further established a number of “Praying Indian Towns”—each with its own school and instructors.

By 1624, the number of converts in Massachusetts and Plymouth, alone, was estimated to be 4,000. Unfortunately, the only...