Samsom Occom was a great Indian minister and missionary. And he was also a successful teacher for his people after the leaning in the Reverend Eleazer Wheelock’s school. He taught people in different part of American. And in this article, he described his experience to be an Indian minister, and bad treatment at the hands of the religious establishment.
Occom was converted to Christian when he was 16. And he received good education with the help of Mr. Wheelock in a 4-years school. As a cultured man, he left his teacher and went Europe, thinking becoming a school master. However he failed and went back, and got a job in an Indian school, married about 2 years he went there. He had a special method of teaching the children to read books or memorize the alphabets, but he was treated differently especially on the salary compared to other missionaries. Although other missionaries said it was because he could not influence Indians so well, the true reason he thought was “I believe it is because I am a poor Indian”.
For his writing, I noticed that the numerous difficulties of making a live, and the Indians were treated unequally in the society.
He did not go to England to become a school master; he went to raise money to start an Indian school and was very successful in doing so. He came back home and gave the money to Wheelock who used it to start yet another school for white children. Wheelock had promised to take care of Occom's family while he traveled to England, but he did not follow through on that promise. Occom was paid less for his work as a minister even though he was promised equal wages. It became very clear to Occom that the only possible difference between him and the other ministers was that he was Indian.
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