Sarah Winnemucca: 19th Century Advocate for Native Americans

Last month I wrote about Winema Riddle, a Native American woman who pursued justice for her people in 19th century Oregon. Sarah Winnemucca was another prominent Native American woman in Oregon at the time who also advocated for her people.

Sarah Winnemucca was born into an influential Northern Paiute family in what is now Nevada. Her Paiute name as a child was Thocmetony, meaning Shell Flower, but she later took the name Sarah, which she used throughout her adult life. Her grandfather, Chief Truckee, and her father, Chief Winnemucca, tried to convince the Northern Paiute to pursue friendly relations with the white settlers.

Near the end of her life, Sarah published a book, Life Among the Piutes: Their Wrongs and Claims, which was both a memoir of her life and a history of her people. This book is considered the first known autobiography written by a Native American woman.

The memoir begins:

“I was born somewhere near 1844, but am not sure of the precise time. I was a very small child when the first white people came into our country. They came like a lion, yes, like a roaring lion, and have continued so ever since, and I have never forgotten their first coming.”

Sarah then describes why her grandfather, Chief Truckee, wanted to welcome the whites:

“[My grandfather] summoned his whole people, and told them this tradition:

“ ‘In the beginning of the world there were only four, two girls and two boys. Our forefather and mother were only two, and we are their children. You all know that a great while ago there was a happy family in this world. One girl and one boy were dark and the others were white. For a time they got along together without quarrelling, but soon they disagreed, and there was trouble. They were cross to one another and fought, and our parents were very much grieved. They prayed that their children might learn better, but it did not do any good; and afterwards the whole household was made so unhappy that the father and mother saw that they must separate their children; and then our father took the dark boy and girl, and the white boy and girl, and asked them, ‘Why are you so cruel to each other?’ They hung down their heads, and would not speak. They were ashamed. He said to them, ‘Have I not been kind to you all, and given you everything your hearts wished for? You do not have to hunt and kill your own game to live upon. You see, my dear children, I have power to call whatsoever kind of game we want to eat; and I also have the power to separate my dear children, if they are not good to each other.’ So he separated his children by a word. He said, ‘Depart from each other, you cruel children; go across the mighty ocean and do not seek each other’s lives.’

“ ‘So the light girl and boy disappeared by that one word, and their parents saw them no more, and they were grieved, although they knew their children were happy. And by-and-by the dark children grew into a large nation; and we believe it is the one we belong to, and that the nation that sprung from the white children will some time send some one to meet us and heal all the old trouble. Now, the white people we saw a few days ago must certainly be our white brothers, and I want to welcome them. I want to love them as I love all of you. But they would not let me; they were afraid. But they will come again, and I want you one and all to promise that, should I not live to welcome them myself, you will not hurt a hair on their heads, but welcolived them as I tried to do.”

“How good of him to try and heal the wound, and how vain were his efforts! . . .”

In addition to describing her life, her memoir recounts the various wrongdoings by the U.S. government and its citizens toward the Paiutes and Sarah’s attempts to obtain justice for her people. The book is all written in a very readable style, as the quotes above attest.

When the Paiute War between her tribe and the settlers began, Sarah and members of her family traveled to San Francisco to escape the fighting. Sarah and her sister stayed with a white family and learned English. As she was growing up, she had both positive and negative experiences with whites. She was never as positive about interracial relations as her grandfather, though she did her best to bring the two sides together.

In 1871, at the age of 27, Sarah became an interpreter for the Bureau of Indian Affairs at Fort McDermitt. In this role, she pressed for the rights of Native Americans. In fact, she traveled throughout the United States as an advocate. When the Paiute were later moved to a reservation near Yakima, Washington after the Bannock War of 1878, Sarah went to Washington, D.C., to lobby Congress for the release of the Paiute and their return to their homeland in Oregon. She also went on a lengthy speaking tour to raise sympathies throughout the U.S. for the Paiutes.

My current plan is to use Sarah Winnemucca as a character in my novel as an acquaintance of Abigail Duniway (another Oregon historical figure who has featured in my recent novels), though I have not found any evidence of a connection between Sarah and Abigail. Both women lived in Oregon during the same decades of the 19th century, and they might well have met.

In 1872, Sarah lived on the Malheur Reservation in Oregon, while Abigail Duniway lived in Portland. In 1870, Sarah had sent a letter to the Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Nevada about the plight of the Paiute. Her letter was reprinted in Harper’s magazine, and received lots of publicity. It would have been known by Abigail Duniway by the time my novel is set in 1872-73.

Sarah Winnemucca greatest prominence came after the Bannock War, which was later than the timeframe of my novel. Still, she is an interesting character in the history of the West, and including her in the book will help one of my fictional characters come to terms with her own Native American heritage.

Another source for information about Sarah Winnemucca is the Nevada Women’s History project.

Do you like to see historical fiction authors write Author’s Notes about known and unknown facts in their novels? How much do you want to know about the history versus the fiction?