1723

New London, Connecticut

1792

Stockbridge, New York

Mohegan preacher, diarist, and hymn lyricist

Portrait: Samson Occum. Reproduced by permission of Archive Photos, Inc.

" . . . I began to think about the Christian Religion, and was under great trouble of Mind for Some Time."

Samson Occom.

Samson Occom was a significant figure in the religious life of eighteenth-century America. He began his career as a Mohegan (a Native American tribe) minister and missionary in the late colonial period, during a time when many Native Americans and colonists were converted to Christianity known as the Great Awakening. Later, Occom became the first Native American to publish a text—a sermon—in the English language. Through his writings—which also included diaries, letters, and hymn lyrics—he defended his Native American culture. As a preacher he solicited funds for Eleazer Wheelock's charity school, which was dedicated to the education and conversion of...