John Rollin Ridge (1827-1867) was a member of the Cherokee Nation and published under his Cherokee name of Yellow Bird. He was born in Georgia in 1827 but fled to Arkansas in 1837 after witnessing the murders of his father and grandfather. Both men had been signatories of the Treaty of New Echota, which ceded Cherokee lands to the United States. In Arkansas, Ridge studied law and started his own practice. He married a white woman, Elizabeth Wilson, in 1847; their daughter, Alice, was born the next year. Ridge fled to Missouri in 1849 to avoid prosecution after killing an individual who he believed was involved in his father’s murder. He subsequently moved to California in the hope of gaining wealth in the Gold Rush. As well as The Life and Adventures of Joaquín Murieta, Ridge published poems and essays. Although his novel was hugely popular, Ridge himself never saw any of the profits from the publication.

Ridge advocated for the rights of Indigenous Americans and Mexican Americans but did not believe in racial equality. His family were enslavers. During Ridge’s time in Arkansas, he relied on the labor of enslaved people, and he advocated the Confederate cause in the Civil War.