About

About the book

During his lifetime, John Beeson (1803–1889) was called the Indian Apostle, Father Beeson, the Alpha and Omega of the Indian cause, a monomaniac, a depraved liar, vile, fanatical, and venerable. His insistence on justice for the Indians politically disqualified him for residency in Territorial Oregon. Threatened by newspaper editors, clergymen, volunteer Indian fighters, and government officials, compelled him to flee his home and family in 1856 for his own safety. He found his way to New York City, where in 1857 he published A Plea for the Indians, a book that exposed the white man’s inability to apply reason and compassion when there was land to be obtained and money to be made. From his East Coast base, he launched a national campaign on the steps of state houses, at meetings with governors and congressmen, at church podiums and from soap boxes to catch the attention of reformers, such as Wendell Phillips, Lucretia Mott, Belva Lockwood, Frederick Douglass, and Abraham Lincoln.  A practicing spiritualist and pacifist, he was branded as an outsider and ridiculed in the press, yet his passion for justice and human rights in the face of adversity still resonate today.

About the Author

Jan Wright lives in Talent, Oregon, and is on the board of the Talent Historical Society. Her previous books are Talent (in the Arcadia Images of America series) and The History of the Ashland Library. She has written and published numerous historical articles.  She spent more than 20 years researching the story of John Beeson and his family.