Reading Hope Leslie | Alexandria
Read Hope Leslie by Catharine Maria Sedgwick. Reimagining Native American-settler relations, Sedgwick's Hope Leslie shatters colonial myths by portraying indigenous people as morally complex equals rather than savages. Her radical 1827 vision of cultural understanding and female autonomy challenged racist assumptions, offering lessons for bridging today's cultural divides. Most surprisingly? She suggests true civilization lies in empathy, not conquest.