S. Alice Callahan
S. Alice Callahan was a notable figure in late 19th-century American literature, recognized for her contributions as one of the first Native American novelists. Born in Texas in 1861 to a family of mixed Creek Indian and white ancestry, she experienced a unique cultural background that informed her writing. In 1891, she published her novel "Wynema: A Child of the Forest," which explores the friendship between a Muscogee Indian woman and a Southern Methodist teacher, addressing themes of racism, feminism, and cultural tolerance. Callahan's work utilized the conventions of sentimental romance to engage with significant social issues, making it a critical piece for understanding the intersections of gender, politics, and race in literature of that time. Despite being overlooked by contemporary critics, her novel gained renewed attention through the efforts of scholar A. LaVonne Brown Ruoff, leading to its republication in 1997. Callahan's literary legacy highlights the often-neglected voices of Native American women writers and serves as a foundation for ongoing discussions around cultural affiliation and estrangement. Her life and work remain significant in the study of early Native American literature and its evolution.
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S. Alice Callahan
- Born: January 1, 1868
- Birthplace: Sulphur Springs, Texas
- Died: January 7, 1894
- Place of death: Muskogee, Oklahoma
Biography
S. Alice Callahan, was born in Texas in 1861 to parents of mixed ancestry, Creek Indian and white. Her father, Samuel Callahan, was a captain in the First Creek Confederate Regiment and was a delegate to the Confederate Congress at Richmond, Virginia, representing the Creek and Seminole nations. In 1885, the family moved to the Creek Nation in Indian Territory, where they were members of the Creek aristocracy.
Callahan attended the Wesleyan Female Institute in Staunton, Virginia, for ten months in 1887 and 1888. When she returned to Oklahoma, she taught at various Indian schools. Callahan planned to return to the Wesleyan Female Institute to study languages, literature, and mathematics in preparation for opening her own school, but she instead continued teaching in late 1893. Unwell after Thanksgiving, she developed pleurisy and died in January, 1894.
Callahan published one of the first novels written by a Native American, Wynema: A Child of the Forest, which was published in 1891. The novel tells the story of a friendship between two women from different backgrounds—Wynema Harjo, a Muscogee Indian, and Genevieve Weir, a Methodist teacher from a genteel Southern family. Callahan uses the conventional traditions of a sentimental domestic romance for political purposes.Wynema expresses many ideas about racism, feminism, tolerance, and equality. It also advances the ongoing task of teasing out the literary and rhetorical crossings between cultural values of the dominant culture and a culture labeled as “other.” As such, Wynema invites a broader comparative study of nineteenth century literature, bringing attention to issues regarding gender, politics, and race.
Callahan’s novel was ignored by her contemporary reviewers and critics and much of the literary world forgot about it until scholar A. LaVonne Brown Ruoff discovered the novel. Ruoff’s discovery led to its subsequent republication by University of Nebraska Press in 1997. Only two copies of the original edition appear to be extant, one in the Library of Congress and the other at the Oklahoma Historical Society. Photocopies are in the library of the University of Illinois at Chicago
ThoughWynema lacks a complex plot or multidimensional characters, it deals with issues generally ignored by white male authors of the period. Callahan’s work serves as a prototype for the complex negotiations of affiliation and estrangement found in the foundational texts of Native American and African American women writers.