Simon Pokagon

Simon Pokagon (1830-1899) was a Pokagon Potawatomi author and advocate. Born near Bertrand, Michigan Territory, he was the son of Potawatomi chief Leopold Pokagon. Educated at the University of Notre Dame and Oberlin College, he gained a reutation as an effective activist for the rights of indigenous peoples. Notably, he met with presidents Lincoln and Grant to petition for reparations from the government for violating the 1833 Treaty of Chicago, but was later accused of using his position to sell land to real estate speculators. Through his numerous articles, novels, stories, and poems, Pokagon became one of the first Native Americans to gain a national audience as a writer. In 1893, he was featured at the World’s Columbian Exposition, where he spoke to a crowd of 75,000 on the dangers of alcoholism to Native Americans, citizenship, and unity. Pokagon’s novel O-gî-mäw-kwě Mit-i-gwä-kî (1899) remains a landmark work of Native American literature.