The Selected Works of Ora Eddleman Reed

The Selected Works of Ora Eddleman Reed collects the writings of Ora Eddleman Reed with an introduction that contextualizes her as an author, a publishing pioneer, a New Woman, and a person with a complicated lineage. “Little Writer” Ora V. Eddleman (pseudonym Mignon Schreiber) was only eighteen when she published her first work in the Indian Territory newspaper Twin Territories, which she edited for much of its brief run. This publication promoted the literary works of Muskogee Creek poet Chinnubbie Harjo (Alexander Posey), Cherokee historian Joshua Ross, and Muskogee Creek chief Pleasant Porter. In the advice column “What the Curious Want to Know,” Eddleman Reed answered readers from around the country who had ignorant impressions of Indian Territory (and whose questions, notably, she did not include). Such columns were accompanied by pieces that amount to some of the earliest Native historiography by an American woman claiming Indigenous heritage. Twin Territories was directed at both Natives and non-Natives and had a national readership. The heterogeneous form of the newspaper gave room for healthy internal debate on controversial ideas like Indigenous sovereignty and assimilation, affirming Native Americans as a significant, diverse collective.

In this first book of Eddleman Reed’s work, Cari M. Carpenter and Karen L. Kilcup revive the writings of an important author, publisher, and activist for Cherokee rights.