Dee Brown (novelist)
| Dorris Alexander "Dee" Brown | |
|---|---|
| Born | February 29, 1908 Alberta, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Died | December 12, 2002 (aged 94) Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S. |
| Education | MLS (Master of Library Science) |
| Occupation | Librarian, historian, author |
| Spouse(s) | Sally Stroud |
| Parent(s) | Daniel Alexander Brown (father) Lula (Cranford) Brown (mother) |
Dorris Alexander "Dee" Brown (February 29, 1908 – December 12, 2002) was an American novelist and historian. His most famous work, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (1970) details the history of American expansionism from the point of view of the Native Americans.
Born in Alberta, Louisiana, a sawmill town, Brown grew up in Ouachita County, Arkansas, which experienced an oil boom when he was thirteen. Brown's mother later relocated to Little Rock so he and his brother and two sisters could attend a better high school. He spent much time in the public library. Reading the three-volume History of the Expedition under the Command of Captains Lewis and Clark helped him develop an abiding interest in the American West. He also discovered the works of Sherwood Anderson and John Dos Passos, and later William Faulkner and Joseph Conrad. He cited these authors as those most influential on his own work.
While attending home games by the Arkansas Travelers baseball team, he became acquainted with Chief Yellow Horse, a pitcher. His kindness, and a childhood friendship with a Creek boy, caused Brown to reject the portrayals of Indian peoples as violent and backward, which dominated American popular culture at the time.
He worked as a printer and reporter in Harrison, Arkansas, and decided to continue his education at Arkansas State Teachers College in Conway, Arkansas. His mentor, the history professor Dean D. McBrien, helped set him on the road to becoming a writer. They traveled west along with other students on two occasions in a Model T Ford. On campus Brown worked as editor of the student newspaper and held a student assistantship in the library. The latter convinced him that he should become a librarian.
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