Basic Information
Sarah Winnemucca was an indigenous woman born around the year of 1844. Her tribe’s territory was located in what is currently the state of Nevada (Hopkins, 2015, p. 4; 2017, p. 9). Given the mistreatment of indigenous people during European colonization, Winnemucca became an activist for indigenous rights. She started by advocating for her people on the reservations then spread her efforts to the American government in Washington D.C.
Background Information
Winnemucca was born into the Northern Paiute tribe before European colonization advanced to their territory (Hopkins, 2015, p. 4; 2017, p. 9). The Northern Paiutes lived in unofficial bands across parts of what is now known as Nevada, Oregon, and California (Encyclopedia Britannica, 1998). When Winnemucca’s tribe encountered European colonizers in their territory, her grandfather rejoiced and encouraged his fellow people to accept them (Hopkins, 2015, p. 96; 2017, p. 10). He retold a creation story to his people in which there were two pairs of children, one white and one of color. In the story, the white children were sent away after a dispute (Hopkins, 2017, p. 11). He grew up calling them his “white brothers” and wondered when they would be reunited.
As the Paiutes and colonizers interacted, it was not the homecoming her grandfather had hoped for. When things between the Paiutes and colonizers turned deadly, he insisted his people not hold animosity toward his white brothers. Over time, he was able to build relationships with the colonizers. Eventually, the colonizers considered him the leader of the Northern Paiutes. This happened despite the fact that the Paiutes did not have a formal hierarchy of their own (Hopkins, 2015, p. 4). Her grandfather assumed the name of Chief Truckee and began to work with the American government (Hopkins, 2017, p. 12). His collaboration came at a cost to his tribe when colonizers brought diseases, engaged in fights, and later shuffled them to different reservations.
When Winnemucca was young, Chief Truckee took her and her family to California (Hopkins, 2017, p. 22). The trip led to Winnemucca and her sister being sent to live with the white family of Major Ormsbey. Winnemucca credits her proficiency in the English language to her time with the Ormsbey’s (Hopkins, 2017, p. 49). After Chief Truckee’s death in 1860, Winnemucca and her sister were enrolled in a school for girls in California. They were there for less than a month because white parents of the other students had them removed due to their indigenous heritage (Hopkins, 2015, p. 4; 2017, p. 74). Then, Winnemucca returned to live with her parents and tribe in Nevada. Upon Chief Truckee’s death, Winnemucca’s father took over as Chief. During his time as chief, he was far more apprehensive of the colonizers (Hopkins, 2017). These two approaches taken together influenced the formation of Winnemucca’s personal way of working with the colonizers. Lastly, Winnemucca’s colonial education primed her for a life of navigating incongruent identities.
Contributions to the First Wave
Winnemucca’s return coincided with the formation of Nevada as an official state and the designation of the Pyramid Lake Reservation for the Northern Paiutes (Hopkins, 2017, pp. 60-62). It was here Winnemucca saw the reality of how the American government treated indigenous people. She witnessed the corruption of agents and officials who ruled over the reservation. Subsequently, the Paiutes suffered hardships and starvation. European colonizers saw indigenous people as savages because they did not understand a culture that was different from their own. Winnemucca’s family conducted performances for the colonizers in hopes to improve their relations and correct this assumption (Hopkins, 2015, p. 5). Winnemucca’s family performed in their native language, in which Winnemucca’s role was to translate. As a result, she became recognized for her proficiency in English. Her involvement in improving indigenous reputations could be considered the beginning of her activist career.
European American’s were not accustomed to an indigenous person that was proficient in English. This gave Winnemucca the opportunity for an extensive career as a translator at several American government agencies (Hopkins, 2017, pp. 88, 92, 108, 121, 165). In these positions, she networked with sympathizing officials. For example, in 1870, while Winnemucca worked as an interpreter at her reservation, she observed the poor living conditions of her people. By letter, she sought the aid of an official with whom she previously built a relationship. In response, he forwarded the letter to the Board of Indian Commissioners (Hopkins, 2015, p. 39). It caught the attention of the American public and, was subsequently, circulated in several newspapers.
In 1874, her people were moved to a new reservation (Hopkins, 2017, pp. 109-139). In addition to becoming an interpreter there, Winnemucca worked with an agent’s wife to open a school for the children of her people. Unfortunately, the school was open for less than a month when there was a change of leadership. After the new agent proved to be abusive, Winnemucca traveled to meet his superior and pleaded for him to intervene. The superior failed to take action and the agent retaliated by removing Winnemucca from her position as interpreter. Realizing her efforts to appeal to the government were not successful, she thought engaging the American public would improve the outcome. To this end, she was able to gain attention through numerous speaking appearances. Her efforts were acknowledged extensively in newspapers, but conditions did not improve. While the newspapers were often favoring of Winnemucca, they also reported on events of which she was involved in drunken disputes.
The unresolved tensions between indigenous people and the American’s lead to the Bannock War (Hopkins, 2017, pp. 140-205). The war was instigated by the Bannock tribe, but the Northern Paiutes were involved as both participants and prisoners. Upon the resolution of the war, the Northern Paiutes were sent to Yakama reservation in Washington state (Hopkins, 1017, pp. 205-249). Many of them died from starvation and freezing conditions during the trip. Due to the mismanagement of supplies, the conditions did not improve once they were settled. Determined to save her people, Winnemucca decided to appeal even harder to the American public. She also tried leveraging her local government connections to garner the attention of the Federal government in Washington D.C. In turn, Winnemucca’s local contact wrote her a letter of recommendation to appear before congress. Winnemucca’s goal was for her people to be returned to the Malheur reservation.
Before traveling to Washington D.C., Winnemucca conducted more lecturing appearances and newspaper interviews. In a turn of events, the American government contacted Winnemucca (Hopkins, 2017, p. 221). They sent a representative to meet her, her brother, and Chief Winnemucca. Aside from the formal meeting, they were to inspect Malheur reservation. This was the first real sign that Winnemucca’s tactics were paying off. At the commencement of the visit, the representative extended an invitation for them to appear in Washington D.C (Hopkins, 2015, p. 13). The trip to Washington had the allure of a pivotal event. The government approved the Northern Paiute’s return to Malheur reservation. Even though Winnemucca was handed the decision in writing, it never came to fruition (Hopkins, 2015, p. 7). In Winnemucca’s attempts to follow up on Washington’s promises, the agent at Yakama grew tired of her pressure and sent her away. She took a translator position in Vancouver, Washington. While in Vancouver, Winnemucca met and married Lewis H. Hopkins. Although, this was not her first marriage. Winnemucca’s previous partners were known for taking advantage of her (Hopkins, 2015, p. 8). Hopkins was supportive of her efforts early on, but took advantage of her in the end. Considering these facts and her personal notoriety as Winnemucca, a concerted effort was made in this essay to refer to her by her indigenous name.
During Winnemucca’s previous lecturing trip in the west, she met a group of women traveling through California from Boston (Hopkins, 2015, p. 7). They encouraged her to lecture in the east because they believed she would get more help and resources there. Downtrodden from her inability to make change thus far, she decided to take their advice and headed to the east in 1883. She quickly formed a relationship with activists there. Most notable, were her relationships with activist sisters, Mann and Peabody (Hopkins, 2015, pp. 8-9; 2017, p. 21). They were well established and helped sustain her financially. Additionally, they encouraged her to tell her story in the form of a memoir. Which she did and her book was published in 1883. While in the east, Winnemucca made hundreds of appearances that were chronicled in newspaper articles. At her lectures, petitions were signed by attendees and later sent to the government (Hopkins, 2017, pp. 182-192). Some of her messaging began to resemble those of her friends. For example, Winnemucca began to assert that should agents exist women should fill the roles (Hopkins, 2017, pp. 182-192). She also began to lecture for the right to citizenship and the vote for her and her people (Hopkins, 2017, pp. 23, 206).
Donations were collected for the purpose of buying land for her tribe (Hopkins, 2017, pp. 149-150). Although, enough money was not raised for this purpose. In 1844, Winnemucca testified during a congressional hearing to secure a reservation of their own (Hopkins, 2017, pp.13, p. 207-208). This did not come to fruition until 1889, but by this time her people, long ago, had left the Yakama reservation and spread out closer to their original territory. In the meantime, Winnemucca focused on opening a school for the children of her people in Nevada. She was able to achieve this with the help of Peabody and donors in the east. The school was her last big effort to help her people before her death in 1891 but, the school closed in 1889 (Hopkins, 2017, p. 13).
Excerpt from Life Among the Piutes by Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins:
…you say it will take two or three generations to civilize my people. No! I say it will not take that long if you will only take interest in teaching us; and, on the other hand, we shall never be civilized in the way you wish us to be if you keep on sending us such agents as have been sent to us year after year, who do nothing but fill their pockets… (Hopkins, 2015, p.73)
Analysis and Conclusion
Winnemucca was a women of color dedicated to advancing the lives of her people. It could be argued that she was not very successful, but the challenges she faced must be considered. It is hard to imagine how a marginalized, indigenous woman, in the 1800’s, was able to garner the attention of the American public and the government. Consider then, that she acted alone for the greater part of her efforts. The newspapers were instrumental in spreading her message, but she had to gain their attention first. The newspaper articles were not always in her favor due to the efforts of other’s to stall the proliferation of her message. At times Winnemucca was the target of defamation efforts, but she also contributed to the contention. It was particularly contrary to social norms for women to engage in gambling and drinking, but Winnemucca drew more attention to these hobbies by getting into drunken disputes.
Granted Winnemucca essentially dedicated her entire life to fighting for indigenous rights, the Northern Paiute people questioned her loyalty to the American government. She had a pattern of working for the government while her people starved in there care. Like her grandfather, she worked within the boundaries of the government. Her willingness to use the government’s chain of command to her advantage was an example of her father’s influence. She was apprehensive to blindly trust them and as a result, she was not afraid to contradict them. Taken together, the information herein illustrates that Winnemucca was a women before her time.
References
Britannica. (1998). Paiute | people. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Paiute
(Image) Chickering, E. (1883). Studio portrait of Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins in beaded dress and moccasins taken by Elmer Chickering of Boston, Massachussetts, c. 1883, as part of publicity for her lectures in that city. In Wikipedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sarah_Winnemucca_Hopkins.jpg
Hopkins, S. W. (2015). The newspaper warrior. U of Nebraska Press.
Hopkins, S. W. (2017). Life among the Piutes (H. Mann, Ed.). Arcadia Press.