author
Lucy Thompson
1856–1932
A Yurok writer from Northern California, she set down stories, customs, and beliefs she feared might be lost. Her 1916 book offers a rare first-person record of Yurok life from a Native woman’s point of view.
1 Audiobook
To the American Indian
by Lucy Thompson
About the author
Born in 1856 and also known as Che-na-wah Weitch-ah-wah, she was a Yurok author from the Klamath River region of Northern California. She is best known for To the American Indian: Reminiscences of a Yurok Woman, published in 1916, a book she wrote to preserve the stories and traditions of her people.
Her work blends personal memory, cultural history, and accounts of Yurok beliefs and ceremonies. Over time, the book came to be recognized as an important Native-authored account of California Indigenous life, and it later received an American Book Award in 1992.
She died in 1932, but her writing remains valuable for readers interested in Yurok history, Native literature, and firsthand cultural testimony from the early twentieth century.