Sosehawa (1774-1856), variously spelled Sos'he:owâ, Sos-heo-wa, Sos-he-o-wa, or Sosheowa, also known as James "Jimmy" Johnson, was a prophet and religious leader of the Iroquois in the 19th century, who carried on the work of his grandfather, Handsome Lake.
Sosehawa was revered throughout The Six Nations for his vision and foresight that allowed the Iroquois culture to survive British encroachment.
In 1821, Sosehawa travelled east into New York Province, where he observed all the new things that the Europeans were doing. He saw the steamships, the iron foundries and the beginnings of the railroad which convinced him that the Iroquois needed to modernise. He returned to the lands of the Iroquois and set up schools to teach his people these new technologies. This allowed the Iroquois to meet the eventual westward expansion of the North American Union as equals and so keep their land and their culture, thus forming The Six Nations.[1]
