In 1846, a forgotten poem titled “A Light Broke in Upon My Brain” appeared in the Arkansas State Gazette under the pen name Yellow Bird—the Cherokee poet John Rollin Ridge (ᏥᏏᏆᏔᎳᏅᏱ Cheesquatalawny). Long before he became the first Native American novelist, Ridge was a nineteen-year-old Cherokee survivor writing through grief, loss, and the upheaval of his Nation. This rediscovered poem reveals an early voice shaped by trauma yet fiercely committed to imagination, resilience,

On tribal lands this past Friday, President Joe Biden issued a long-overdue apology on behalf of the United States for policies that...