Living a Life as an Indian

Samson Occom lived a very fulfilling life. He has been many places and has helped people. Being Indian and doing the many things he has is quite an accomplishment. Occom lived during the Enlightenment Period and one may believe that his life as a minister coincides with many aspects of the period of time he lived in.

Samson Occom was a member of the Pequot tribe. As he became older, he also became very religious. Occom's autobiography that he has written is very short but it is also very detailed. His autobiography shows his life as he struggled to live it as a "poor Indian". As stated in the Occom's introduction, this autobiography shows Occom's, and possibly other rural Indian ministers, day to day life in the eighteenth century. The Enlightenment Period was said to be a period of clarifying many aspects of life during this time. The word enlightenment means to "clean up" and many feel that this period has done so. There were many problems going on during this period, mainly human knowledge was trying to grow dramatically. One can easily find that one major issue that was growing and becoming more popular was government. Although Occom had very little to do with government, he was still very linear with the Enlightenment Period. As one can see through his autobiography, religion, mainly religion taught by Americans, was not very popular with Indians. Occom was taught this religion and he played a major role in helping pass along the Word of the Lord.

As Occom became older, he became more experienced in helping people read the Word of the Lord. Occom even had his own school to teach others how to read. He taught many people not only to read but how to live. Philosophy played a major role during the Enlightenment Period. Occom was a very open-minded person and he didn't hold too many things on his shoulders. As shown in his autobiography he states how he is getting paid an extremely less amount than any other usual missionaries. He then states "I am ready to (forgive) their Ignorance." Philosophy is shown in the last sentence of his autobiography. This proves that his mind, although never had any formal schooling, works just as well as an educated man. His last line states "I believe it is because I am a poor Indian. I Can't help that God has made me So; I did not make my self so." One can easily see he knows that people acknowledge him as a poor Indian but he is a strong