William Apess Eulogy On King Phillip
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According to critical race theorists Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic, Counterstorytelling is “Writing that aims to cast doubt on the validity of accepted premises or myths, especially ones held by the majority” (144). William Apess’s, Eulogy on King Phillip, is a powerful example of Counterstorytelling as defined by Delgado and Stefancic. Apess’s text fulfills this definition by not only eulogizing and recognizing a figure unrecognized by a dominant white majority, but also by narrating historical encounters between indigenous people and colonists. Specifically, Apess gives an account of the encounters as experienced by the former and largely ignored, perpetrated, or outright rejected by the latter. Through both his eulogization of Phillip,