His Achievements

One of the earliest autobiographical narratives written by an American Indian, A Short Narrative rejects the reports that Occum was a Mohawk; it also explains his conversion to Christianity. His other writings deal with his teaching methods and of conducting church services.

Primary Works

A Short Narrative of My Life, 1768; A Sermon Preached by Samson Occum, 1772; Collection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs, 1774.

| Top | Selected Bibliography

Conkey, Laura E., Ethel Bolissevain, and Ives Goddard. "Indians of Southern New England and Long Island: Late Period." In The Northeast. Ed. Bruce G. Trigger, 177-89. Handbook of North American Indians 15. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian, 1978.

Goen, C. C. Revivalism and Separatism in New England, 1740-1800. Strict Congregationalists and Separate Baptists in the Great Awakening. New Haven: Yale UP, 1962.

Heimert, Alan. Religion and the American Mind: From the Great Awakening to the Revolution. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1966.

Humphreys, Mary G. Missionary Explorers among the American Indians. NY: C. Scribner's Sons, 1913.

Jennings, Francis. The Invasion of America; Indians, Colonialism, and the Cant of Conquest. NY: Norton, 1976.

Minnick, Wayne C. "The New England Execution Sermon, 1639- 1800." Speech Monographs 35 (1968): 77-89.

Richardson, Leon B. An Indian Preacher in England. Hanover: Dartmouth College Publications, 1933.

Salwen, Bert. "Indians of Southern New England and Long Island: Early Period." In The Northeast. Ed. Bruce G. Trigger, 160-76. Handbook of North American Indians. 15. Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian, 1978.

Sturtevant, William C., ed. Handbook of North American Indians,. 15. Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian, 1978.

Towner, Lawrence L. "True Confessions and Dying Warnings in Colonial New England." In Sibley's Heir. A Volume in Memory of Clifford Kenyon Shipton, 523-39. Boston: Colonial Soc. of Massachusetts and UP of Virginia, 1982.

Washburn, Wilcomb E. "Seventeenth-Century Indian Wars." In The Northeast. Ed. Bruce G. Trigger, 177-89. Handbook of North American Indians 15. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian, 1978.

Study Questions

1. Compare and contrast the rhetorical devices in Occom's "Sermon Preached at the Execution of Moses Paul" with Jonathan Edwards's Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.

2. Trace and analyze Occom's references to American Indians. How does he represent them? How does he suggest whites have represented native peoples? Find subtle evidence to support the interpretation that Occom believes Euro-Americans have misrepresented American Indians.

3. Discuss Occom's use of distinct rhetorical strategies to appeal to the various groups in his audience and to Moses Paul; and the extent to which Occom follows the standard structure and basic content for such sermons.

MLA Style Citation of this Web Page

Reuben, Paul P. "Chapter 2: Colonial Period: 1700-1800 - Samson Occum." PAL: Perspectives in American Literature- A Research and Reference Guide. URL: http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap2/occum.html (provide page date or date of your login).  

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