author
Elias Johnson
A Tuscarora chief and author, he is remembered for preserving the stories, customs, and history of the Iroquois Confederacy and the Tuscarora people in one influential 19th-century book. His work still stands out as a rare Native-written account from its time.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Born near Lewiston, New York, Elias Johnson was a Tuscarora chief. He is best known for Legends, Traditions, and Laws of the Iroquois, or Six Nations, and History of the Tuscarora Indians, first published in 1881.
In that book, Johnson set out to record traditions, social customs, and historical memory connected with the Six Nations and the Tuscarora people. He wrote in English for a broad readership, but from a Native perspective, making the work especially valuable as a firsthand cultural and historical account.
Today, he is remembered less for a large body of publications than for the lasting importance of this single work, which helped preserve Indigenous knowledge and present Tuscarora and Iroquois history in his own voice.