Seneca Chief, Army General: A Story About Ely Parker (Creative Minds Biographies) (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Karen Ritz (Illustrator) "Ten-year-old Ely Parker couldn't hold still..." (more)
Key Phrases: New York, General Grant, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Gr 4-6-Parker is probably best known as the Native American appointed by Ulysses Grant as Commissioner of Indian Affairs, the first Native American to hold that post. His tenure in that office was brief; jealousy and racism brought him under fire from disgruntled opponents, and though he was cleared of any wrongdoing, he resigned. The author spends the first half of the book on the events in Parker's life prior to his fateful meeting with Grant. She describes the difficulties the young boy from the Tonawanda Reservation in New York encountered during his years at a Baptist mission school, on an Iroquois settlement in Canada, and at the academies he attended to further his education. Having decided to study law, he discovered that only American citizens can take the bar exam, and as an Indian, he was not a citizen. Parker was an effective spokesperson and his work earned him the respect of his people. Van Steenwyk writes simply but well about this interesting, and in many ways tragic, man about whom little has been written for children. The book is illustrated with black-and-white drawings; there are no source notes, but there is a bibliography. Harold Felton's Ely S. Parker (Dodd, Mead, 1973; o.p.) has fictionalized dialogue and is less forthright about the discrimination Parker faced throughout his life and career. Interesting in its own right, Seneca Chief will also be useful for students needing a biography of a Native American.-Elaine Fort Weischedel, Franklin Public Library, MA

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 3-6. A new volume in the Creative Minds Biographies series acquaints middle-grade readers with Ely Parker, a Seneca chief who achieved success in both the Native American and white worlds. Born in 1828 on the Tonawonda Reservation in New York, Ely attended mission schools as well as boarding schools and became an interpreter at age 14. After he fought successfully to save the reservation from a land company, his people made him a sachem, or chief. Following Parker's exemplary service in the Civil War, President Grant appointed him to be commissioner of Indian affairs. Van Steenwyk shares the struggles as well as the successes of this extraordinary man and explores some of the complex issues that Indian people faced in the 1800s. Karen Hutt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Hardcover: 64 pages
• Publisher: Carolrhoda Books (May 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1575054310
• ISBN-13: 978-1575054315
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
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• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #934,756 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)