1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,639 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio, 2 00:00:04,680 --> 00:00:08,600 Speaker 1: Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class, a 3 00:00:08,680 --> 00:00:12,480 Speaker 1: show that uncovers a little bit more about history every day. 4 00:00:13,360 --> 00:00:16,840 Speaker 1: I'm Gay Blucier, and today we're looking at the story 5 00:00:16,920 --> 00:00:21,440 Speaker 1: behind the first newspaper directed solely at Native American readers. 6 00:00:28,600 --> 00:00:34,600 Speaker 1: The day was February twenty fourth, eighteen thirty five. Jotham 7 00:00:34,600 --> 00:00:38,600 Speaker 1: Meeker published the first newspaper printed entirely in a Native 8 00:00:38,600 --> 00:00:43,360 Speaker 1: American language. The four page periodical, known in English as 9 00:00:43,400 --> 00:00:47,000 Speaker 1: The Shawnee Sun, was printed at the Shawnee Mission in 10 00:00:47,120 --> 00:00:50,120 Speaker 1: what is now the state of Kansas. The paper was 11 00:00:50,159 --> 00:00:53,600 Speaker 1: issued on a semi regular basis from eighteen thirty five 12 00:00:53,760 --> 00:00:58,760 Speaker 1: to eighteen forty four, but sadly, only one incomplete issue 13 00:00:59,040 --> 00:01:03,200 Speaker 1: is known to exist today. The Shawnee Sun wasn't the 14 00:01:03,320 --> 00:01:07,959 Speaker 1: first newspaper aimed at Native American readers. Similar publications had 15 00:01:07,959 --> 00:01:11,160 Speaker 1: cropped up since the eighteen twenties, though the content of 16 00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:15,400 Speaker 1: those early papers was written primarily in English. One of 17 00:01:15,440 --> 00:01:18,880 Speaker 1: the most famous examples was the Cherokee Phoenix, which was 18 00:01:18,959 --> 00:01:22,319 Speaker 1: founded by tribal leaders in eighteen twenty eight in response 19 00:01:22,360 --> 00:01:26,679 Speaker 1: to Georgia's efforts to seize control of Cherokee lands. Harnessing 20 00:01:26,720 --> 00:01:29,280 Speaker 1: the power of the press to advance a cause, the 21 00:01:29,440 --> 00:01:33,080 Speaker 1: leaders used the Cherokee Phoenix to publicize the state's actions 22 00:01:33,120 --> 00:01:35,800 Speaker 1: against them and to build support for the tribe among 23 00:01:35,920 --> 00:01:40,559 Speaker 1: white settlers. The paper's dual language approach made it accessible 24 00:01:40,640 --> 00:01:43,840 Speaker 1: to all readers, making it a powerful counterpoint to the 25 00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:49,120 Speaker 1: anti Indian narratives of the mainstream press. Ironically, the first 26 00:01:49,160 --> 00:01:54,200 Speaker 1: newspaper published entirely in a Native American language wasn't published 27 00:01:54,240 --> 00:01:57,640 Speaker 1: by Native Americans. Instead, it was the work of a 28 00:01:57,720 --> 00:02:02,720 Speaker 1: white Christian missionary from Ohio named Jotham Meeker. Under the 29 00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:06,760 Speaker 1: Indian Removal Act of eighteen thirty several thousand members of 30 00:02:06,760 --> 00:02:10,360 Speaker 1: the Shawnee Nation had been forcibly removed from Missouri and 31 00:02:10,480 --> 00:02:15,000 Speaker 1: relocated to the Kansas Territory. In eighteen thirty three. They 32 00:02:15,040 --> 00:02:18,080 Speaker 1: were joined there by twenty eight year old Jotham Meeker, 33 00:02:18,280 --> 00:02:20,600 Speaker 1: who had come to establish a printing press at the 34 00:02:20,639 --> 00:02:24,560 Speaker 1: Shawnee Baptist Mission. It was the first press to be 35 00:02:24,600 --> 00:02:28,240 Speaker 1: set up in Kansas, or really anywhere in the US 36 00:02:28,360 --> 00:02:32,120 Speaker 1: west of the Missouri River. Meeker hoped to connect with 37 00:02:32,160 --> 00:02:36,800 Speaker 1: the Shawnee more quickly by publishing religious material, including hymns 38 00:02:36,800 --> 00:02:41,040 Speaker 1: and pamphlets, in their own language. The difficulty was that 39 00:02:41,080 --> 00:02:44,840 Speaker 1: the spoken language hadn't been written down before, which meant 40 00:02:44,880 --> 00:02:47,560 Speaker 1: there were no conventions for how to spell the words. 41 00:02:48,320 --> 00:02:52,040 Speaker 1: Meeker's solution was to create a phonetic printing system for 42 00:02:52,080 --> 00:02:55,800 Speaker 1: the Shawnee language, assigning letters of the English alphabet to 43 00:02:55,880 --> 00:02:59,520 Speaker 1: the sounds of Shawnee words as best he could. He 44 00:02:59,560 --> 00:03:02,720 Speaker 1: was joined in the endeavor by Johnston Lichens, the papers 45 00:03:02,880 --> 00:03:05,680 Speaker 1: editor and a fellow missionary, as well as by many 46 00:03:05,800 --> 00:03:10,079 Speaker 1: Shawnee who aided in the transcription. The system they devised 47 00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:13,799 Speaker 1: together was crewde at best. Some of the more prominent 48 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:17,480 Speaker 1: sounds of the Shawnee tongue weren't represented by existing letters 49 00:03:17,480 --> 00:03:21,080 Speaker 1: of the alphabet, but rather than creating new letters, which 50 00:03:21,080 --> 00:03:24,560 Speaker 1: would have taken longer and cost more, Meeker and Lichens 51 00:03:24,680 --> 00:03:28,239 Speaker 1: just paired some leftover letters with sounds that didn't match. 52 00:03:28,840 --> 00:03:32,280 Speaker 1: For example, the letter B was used to represent the 53 00:03:32,320 --> 00:03:37,000 Speaker 1: sound th as in think. Despite its flaws, the new 54 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:40,160 Speaker 1: writing system got the job done. Many of the local 55 00:03:40,240 --> 00:03:43,480 Speaker 1: Shawnee learned to read it, and some even began using 56 00:03:43,520 --> 00:03:46,800 Speaker 1: it to write their own stories and articles. By the 57 00:03:46,920 --> 00:03:50,080 Speaker 1: end of eighteen thirty four, Meeker had started work on 58 00:03:50,120 --> 00:03:54,680 Speaker 1: an even more ambitious project, a monthly newspaper printed solely 59 00:03:54,760 --> 00:03:58,840 Speaker 1: in Shawnee. The first issue of the Shawnee Sun was 60 00:03:58,920 --> 00:04:03,000 Speaker 1: printed on February twenty fourth, eighteen thirty five, a fact 61 00:04:03,040 --> 00:04:07,120 Speaker 1: confirmed by Meeker's personal journal. Little is known about the 62 00:04:07,160 --> 00:04:10,120 Speaker 1: contents of the paper, though it's believed to have contained 63 00:04:10,280 --> 00:04:14,600 Speaker 1: articles written by both missionaries and by several Shawnee contributors. 64 00:04:15,240 --> 00:04:18,520 Speaker 1: The missionaries mainly used the platform to spread their religious 65 00:04:18,560 --> 00:04:22,240 Speaker 1: message and the hope of converting Shawnee readers to Christianity. 66 00:04:23,080 --> 00:04:26,159 Speaker 1: While much of the paper's content remains a mystery, we 67 00:04:26,279 --> 00:04:29,960 Speaker 1: know a bit more about its format and distribution. The 68 00:04:30,040 --> 00:04:33,560 Speaker 1: Shawnee Son was a four page publication and measured a 69 00:04:33,600 --> 00:04:37,279 Speaker 1: little under seven by eleven inches. It featured two eight 70 00:04:37,320 --> 00:04:40,120 Speaker 1: and a half inch columns of text per page, and 71 00:04:40,240 --> 00:04:43,960 Speaker 1: issues were distributed in small editions, likely one to two 72 00:04:44,040 --> 00:04:48,159 Speaker 1: hundred copies. The paper's circulation was limited mostly to the 73 00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:51,960 Speaker 1: Shawnee who lived at or near the mission settlement, though 74 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:54,280 Speaker 1: some copies were known to have been sent back east 75 00:04:54,360 --> 00:04:58,719 Speaker 1: to other missionaries and public officials. It was originally published 76 00:04:58,720 --> 00:05:02,279 Speaker 1: on a monthly basis, beginning in March of eighteen thirty five, 77 00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:06,480 Speaker 1: but later issues were published more sporadically. In the summer 78 00:05:06,520 --> 00:05:09,919 Speaker 1: of eighteen thirty seven, Jotham Meeker moved on to a 79 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:12,919 Speaker 1: new mission near the present day city of Ottawa, Kansas. 80 00:05:13,600 --> 00:05:17,400 Speaker 1: The Shawnee Son continued without him, however, under the stewardship 81 00:05:17,440 --> 00:05:21,000 Speaker 1: of John G. Pratt, a printer and missionary who'd been 82 00:05:21,040 --> 00:05:25,400 Speaker 1: sent from Massachusetts to carry on Meeker's work. Records indicate 83 00:05:25,480 --> 00:05:28,719 Speaker 1: that Pratt kept the paper going until eighteen forty four, 84 00:05:29,040 --> 00:05:33,839 Speaker 1: at which point The Shawnee Son ceased publication for good. Today, 85 00:05:34,080 --> 00:05:37,880 Speaker 1: only two pages of the paper survive, both taken from 86 00:05:37,880 --> 00:05:41,719 Speaker 1: the November eighteen forty one issue. In two thousand and eight, 87 00:05:41,960 --> 00:05:46,159 Speaker 1: those pages were translated into English by George Blanchard, an 88 00:05:46,160 --> 00:05:50,359 Speaker 1: elder in the Absentee Shawnee tribe of Oklahoma. It was 89 00:05:50,440 --> 00:05:54,400 Speaker 1: his translation that revealed The Shawnee Son as a missionary paper, 90 00:05:54,880 --> 00:05:58,560 Speaker 1: not a secular report of recent events as many had assumed. 91 00:05:59,400 --> 00:06:03,279 Speaker 1: The Shawnee Son's writing system had squeezed the tribe's language 92 00:06:03,279 --> 00:06:07,719 Speaker 1: into a distinctly European mold, and its content apparently sought 93 00:06:07,760 --> 00:06:11,680 Speaker 1: to do the same To Shawnee spirituality. That said, the 94 00:06:11,839 --> 00:06:15,960 Speaker 1: vast majority of Shawnee residents chose not to convert, with 95 00:06:16,120 --> 00:06:19,559 Speaker 1: only about twenty percent identifying as Christian at the time. 96 00:06:20,240 --> 00:06:23,279 Speaker 1: For the holdouts, the Shawnee Sun may have been just 97 00:06:23,360 --> 00:06:27,520 Speaker 1: another reminder of everything the tribe stood to lose. Some 98 00:06:27,560 --> 00:06:30,839 Speaker 1: white settlers may have deigned to learn their language, but 99 00:06:30,920 --> 00:06:37,240 Speaker 1: the conversation remained as one way as ever. I'm Gabelusier 100 00:06:37,640 --> 00:06:40,679 Speaker 1: and hopefully you now know a little more about history 101 00:06:40,760 --> 00:06:44,760 Speaker 1: today than you did yesterday. You can learn even more 102 00:06:44,800 --> 00:06:48,479 Speaker 1: about history by following us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram 103 00:06:48,760 --> 00:06:52,960 Speaker 1: at tedi HC Show, and if you have any comments 104 00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:55,839 Speaker 1: or suggestions, feel free to send them my way at 105 00:06:55,880 --> 00:06:59,920 Speaker 1: this Day at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks to Chandler May 106 00:07:00,200 --> 00:07:02,920 Speaker 1: for producing the show, and thank you for listening. I'll 107 00:07:02,920 --> 00:07:05,800 Speaker 1: see you back here again soon for another day in 108 00:07:05,920 --> 00:07:06,760 Speaker 1: history classes.