American Literature B 1881-1890

Wikipedia : Jackson wrote A CENTURY OF DISHONOR in an attempt to change government ideas/policy toward Native Americans at a time when effects of the 1871 Indian Appropriations Act (making the entire Native American population wards of the nation) had begun to draw the attention of the public.Jackson sent a copy of her book to every member of Congress, at her own expense. She hoped to awaken the conscience of the American people, and their representatives, to the flagrant wrongs that had been done to the American Indians, and persuade them "to redeem the name of the United States from the stain of A CENTURY OF DISHONOR".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Century_of_Dishonor

LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI is a memoir by Mark Twain of his days as a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River before the American Civil War, and also a travel book, recounting his trip along the Mississippi from St. Louis to New Orleans many years after the War.

UNCLE REMUS, HIS SONGS AND HIS SAYING includes thirty-four folktales narrated by Uncle Remus, an elderly man living in a cabin on Sally and John Huntington's plantation. His listener is their seven year-old son John, who returns nightly to Uncle Remus's side to hear about the fates of Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox, Brer Wolf, Brer Tarrypin, and fellow animals as they enter into contests, pull pranks, and do their best to outwit each other at every encounter. The tales champion the weaker animals over the stronger ones, and range from playful trickery to violence, abuse, and destruction.

http://docsouth.unc.edu/southlit/harris/summary.html

Robert Louis Stevenson wrote this book as a tale of Buccaneers and Gold. TREASURE ISLAND is an adventure tale known for its atmosphere, characters and action, and also as a wry commentary on the ambiguity of morality.

Mark Twain wrote THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN, a story of two boys, Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, riding down the Mississippi River along with their other adventures.

Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell form the Oriental Telephone Company.

The gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona occurs in a livery stable lot between some of the famous characters of the American west; Sheriff Wyatt Earp, his brother Virgil, and Doc Holliday against Billy Claiborne, Frank and Tom McLaury and the Clanton brothers Billy and Ike. Although only thirty seconds long, the battle would live in western lore for more than one hundred years. The McLaury brothers and Billy Clanton would perish in the fight.

http://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1880.html

John D. Rockefeller starts The Standard Oil Company

The final bare knuckle fight for the heavyweight championship is fought in Mississippi City.