The early 19th-century Kickapoo leader Kenekuk contrived a unique, non-alphabetic representation of a religious vision and inscribed it on ten-inch wooden boards.  The "prayer stick" proliferated and helped galvanize a religious community.  But what does it say, and for whose eyes is its message?

Transcript link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1W__9Z0Qj-LYm6bJy_YPmf6QZ2viiH-1_/view?usp=sharing

Explore Hidden Literacies at https://www.hiddenliteracies.org

Learn more about Phillip Round’s work here: https://english.uiowa.edu/people/phillip-round

Hidden Literacies brings together leading scholars of historical literacy to investigate the surprising, often neglected roles reading and writing have played in the lives of marginalized Americans—from indigenous and enslaved people to prisoners and young children.  By presenting high-resolution images of archival texts and pairing them with expert commentary, Hidden Literacies aims to make these writers and texts—which too often lie below the radar of American literature curricula—more available and accessible to teachers and researchers.

Hidden Literacies is edited by Christopher Hager and Hilary Wyss.

Christopher Hager is Professor of English at Trinity College, where he teaches courses in American literature and American Studies.

Hilary E. Wyss is the Allan K. Smith and Gwendolyn Miles Smith Professor of English at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, where she teaches courses in early American literature, American studies, and Native American studies.

Hidden Literacies was produced with the support of the following staff members of Trinity College Information Technology & Library Services:

Cait Kennedy, Research, Outreach, and Technology Librarian

Mary Mahoney, Digital Scholarship Coordinator

Joelle Thomas, Digital Learning & Discovery Librarian

Hidden Literacies: the Podcast was recorded, edited, and produced by Mary Mahoney.

Sound Credits:

“Crescents” by Ketsa (Free Music Archive)