John Milton Oskison

John Milton Oskison

Oklahoma Historical Society photograph
Born (1874-09-21)September 21, 1874[1][2][3]
in or near Vinita, Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory
Died February 25, 1947(1947-02-25) (aged 72)[1][2][4][5]
Tulsa, Oklahoma[2][4][6]
Alma mater Stanford University
Genre novel, biography
Subject Oklahoma, Texas, Native Americans
Spouse Florence Ballard Day
Hildegarde Hawthorne
Children 2

John Milton Oskison (1874–1947) was a Native American author, editor and journalist. His fiction focused on the culture clash that mixed-bloods like himself faced. [7]

Early life and career

Oskison was born the son of John (English) and Rachel Crittendon (part-Cherokee) Oskison in Cherokee Nation. He attended Willie Halsell College[8] in Vinita, where he met and befriended Will Rogers.[1]

Oskison was an undergraduate at Stanford, where he was president of the Stanford Literary Society. He graduated in 1898, and was Stanford's first Native American graduate.[7] He attended Harvard for graduate school. But after one year, his short story "Only the Master Shall Praise" won a competition held by The Century Magazine, and he became a professional writer.[2]

He became an editorial writer for the New York Evening Post. He married Florence Ballard Day in 1903. In 1904 his short story "The Greater Appeal" won the Black Cat Prize.

Later life and career

Oskison switched to Collier's Weekly in 1907, and became their financial editor in 1910.

Oskison served with the American Expeditionary Force in World War I. In 1920, still in France, he and his wife divorced. On his return to the U. S., Oskison married Hildegarde Hawthorne, a novelist.[2][9] He did not resume his position with Collier's, but instead became an independent writer.

Oskison wrote four novels, one novelized biography (of Sam Houston), one history with commentary (on Tecumseh), and part of an autobiography. During the Depression, he edited a WPA project on Oklahoma. At the time of his death, his fourth novel and his partial autobiography were in manuscript form only. His daughter donated Oskison's papers to the University of Oklahoma. His papers were rediscovered in 2007, and were subsequently published.[10]

Publications

Tributes

In 1995, Stanford established the John Milton Oskison Writing Competition, held annually.[7][11]

In 2008, a crater on Mercury was named after him.[12]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Oskison, John Milton (1874–1947)". Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture. Oklahoma Historical Society.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Edd Applegate (2002). American Naturalistic and Realistic Novelists: A Biographical Dictionary. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 307–310.
  3. ↑ The Oklahoma website lists his birth as 1874-09-20
  4. 1 2 "John Oskison, 72, wrote of Indians". The New York Times. 1947-02-27. p. 21.
  5. ↑ The Oklahoma website gives his date of death as 1947-02-27.
  6. ↑ The Applegate dictionary lists New York City
  7. 1 2 3 "Native American History at Stanford". Native American Cultural Center. Stanford University.
  8. ↑ Actually, a high school.
  9. ↑ She was a granddaughter of Nathaniel Hawthorne: "Mrs. H. H. Oskison, Novelist, is Dead". The New York Times. 1952-12-11. p. 33.
  10. ↑ Powell, Timothy B.; Mullikin, Melinda Smith (2007). "Introduction". In Oskison, John Milton. The Singing Bird. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press. p. xxii.
  11. ↑ "2013 John Milton Oskison Writing Competition". Native American Cultural Center. Stanford University.
  12. ↑ "Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature". USGS Astrogeology Science Center.
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