Section 3: The Power of Publishing
Related Resources
Section 3: The Power of Publishing
Telling one’s own story can itself become a form of resistance, claiming the right of self-representation to push back against oppression. The items in this case represent different ways in which people used the power of publishing to tell their stories and advocate for their communities.
A Son of the Forest: The Experience of William Apes, a Native of the Forest, by William Apess, 2nd edition, revised and corrected. New York: Published by the Author, 1831.
A Voice from the South: By a Black Woman of the South, by Anna J. Cooper, Xenia, Ohio: Aldine Printing House, 1892.
William Apess, the first Indigenous writer to publish an autobiography, and Anna J. Cooper, a prominent African American educator, both used their voices to resist derogatory stereotypes and to advocate for the improvement of their respective communities. Apess was a strong proponent of Native rights, including support for the Mashpee Indians’ successful campaign for self-government in 1833-34. Cooper emphasized the importance of Black women’s education and suffrage, and challenged other African American writers to counteract stereotypical depictions by writing their own authentic stories.
Elizabeth Parsons Ware Packard, wrongfully committed to an insane asylum by her husband, and Lai Yong, an early Chinese American artist in California, both fought for legal rights for themselves and others like them. Packard founded the Anti-Insane Asylum Society and published several books to campaign for reform, using her own experiences to ensure that other women would not suffer similar fates. Lai Yong co-authored an 1873 pamphlet, “The Chinese Question from a Chinese Standpoint,” protesting the type of discrimination that would culminate with the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882.
Modern Persecution, or Insane Asylums Unveiled, by Elizabeth Parsons Ware Packard, Hartford: Case, Lockwood & Brainard, 1874.
“Lai Yong Chinese Portrait Painter,” carte-de-visite, by Lai Yong. San Francisco, ca. 1867-1875.
The Chinese Question from a Chinese Standpoint, by Lai Yong, Yang Kay, A Yup, Lai Foon, and Chung Leong. Translated by the Rev. O. Gibson. San Francisco: Cubery & Co., 1874.
