[Brown, Catharine?]. Catharine Brown, the Converted Cherokee: A Missionary Drama, Founded on Fact. Written by a Lady [Cover title]

New Haven: S. Converse Printer, 1819. Good. 6¾” x 3¾”. Stitched wrappers. Pp. 27. Good: stitching nearly perished; one bifolium detached; back wrapper fragile; library stamp and number to front, number also to title; one leaf cropped close with no loss of meaning; creased at margins.

This is an uncommon copy of a short, possibly autobiographical play about a young Cherokee woman and her early years training to become a Christian missionary to the Cherokee people. Catharine Brown was the Brainerd mission's first Cherokee convert, and her extensively published later writings have greatly impacted scholarly discourse as to missionary effects on Native American culture and history.

Scholarly sources disagree on the identity of the play's author, cited only as “a Lady.” Our favored theory is that the work was an early version of Brown's own memoirs, which missionary Rufus Anderson published after her death in 1825. Another source inferred authorship by an unidentified Cherokee woman, while a third suggested the writer was “someone in Connecticut who was familiar with the details of Catharine Brown’s story.”

Catharine Brown was born around 1800 in Indian territory (now part of Wills Valley, Alabama) into a leading, prosperous Creek-Path Cherokee family. In 1816, missionary Cyrus Kingsbury established the first Cherokee board, and the first school, later named for David Brainerd, was founded soon after. Catharine, at 17 years old, had taught herself a little English and asked her parents if she could attend the school; she matriculated in July 1817. Brown made quick progress, learning to read and write in English in three months, and by January 1918 had converted to Christianity. When a missionary girls' school was opened two years later she became a teacher there, but left to attend her ailing brother and parents. She succumbed to tuberculosis and died in 1923. Brown's letters and memoirs have been studied (and debated) for their insight into early missionary conversion efforts of the Cherokee people, as well as the history and loss of Native identity and culture.

This play, published in 1819, covers Brown's introduction into Brainerd, her early schooling and experiences, with a strong pro-conversion bent. The first scene reveals white men in New England debating the removal of the Cherokee from their southern home: “Then the plan is to cut off the savages, and take possession of their lands by violence. I had much rather hear you say you intend to civilize the wild licentious savage; to tame his ferocious nature, and teach him the principles of Christianity.” Brown arrives at Brainerd “dressed in all her finery: Jewels, wampum, and c.,” as a male missionary prays that “the Almighty should see fit to snatch her as a brand, from the burning.” By scene three, Brown has gladly sacrificed her finery for religion: “All my costly jewels and trinkets; my gay ribbons and plumes; I have most willingly given to the charity-box.” Transformed, a missionary pronounces her “dignified” and she is praised by Cherokee chiefs as “pleasant – charming as a bright summer's morning.” The chiefs vow to forsake their “Indian ways” for the “religion of the good white men.” In the play, as happened in reality, Brown's parents assert their control and force their tearful daughter away from her chosen home. The play's last line implores, “Oh ye, who with delight, sit under the droppings of the sanctuary, and enjoy the communion of saints, remember Catharine in your prayers.” Brown's parents eventually relented and allowed her to return to school, after this play had been written.

A compelling dramatic rendition of a young Cherokee woman's start as a Christian missionary, very likely written by the subject herself. OCLC shows 12 holdings of the physical work.