In 1887, Blackbird published his History of the Ottawa and Chippewa Indians of Michigan. The work was published in Ypsilanti, Michigan, by the Ypsilantian Job Printing House. The book was among the first authoritative accounts of the Ottawa and Ojibwa (Chippewa) peoples ever published.
The book covers not only historical facts, but day-to-day details of how the Ottawa and Ojibwa hunted, fished and trapped before the coming of the whites. Blackbird explains many of the traditional beliefs and cultural practices of the two tribes. Because the author was himself a Native American, the book is free of the bias commonly found in books by white authors of the period.
Finally, the book includes a basic grammar of the Ottawa and Ojibwa languages.
Read more about this topic: Andrew Blackbird
Famous quotes containing the word indians:
“The Indians invited us to lodge with them, but my companion inclined to go to the log camp on the carry. This camp was close and dirty, and had an ill smell, and I preferred to accept the Indians’ offer, if we did not make a camp for ourselves; for, though they were dirty, too, they were more in the open air, and were much more agreeable, and even refined company, than the lumberers.... So we went to the Indians’ camp or wigwam.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)