The Many Voyages of Arthur Wellington Clah by Peggy Brock, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters

First-hand accounts of indigenous people’s encounters with colonialism are rare. A daily diary that extends over fifty years and two thousand pages is unparalleled. Drawing on a painstaking transcription of Arthur Wellington Clah’s diaries, Peggy Brock pieces together the many voyages - physical, cultural, intellectual, and spiritual - of a Tsimshian man who moved in both colonial and Aboriginal worlds. Clah’s birth in 1831 coincided with the establishment of a permanent fur trade post, and he became student, teacher, and confidant to missionary William Duncan. Later, Clah’s spiritual voyage into the world of colonial culture transformed him into a devout Christian and an evangelist for the faith. From the goldfields of BC and Alaska to the hop fields of Washington State, Clah witnessed profound change. His diaries reveal the complexities of personal interactions between colonizers and the colonized and the inevitable tensions within a community undergoing rapid change. They also show how Clah’s hopes for his people were gradually eroded by the realities of land dispossession, interference by the colonial state in cultural and political matters, and diminishing economic opportunities. Taken together, Clah’s many voyages offer an unprecedented Aboriginal perspective on colonial relationships as they played out on the Pacific Northwest Coast. | The Many Voyages of Arthur Wellington Clah by Peggy Brock, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters