LEGENDARY WOMAN FOUGHT FOR NATIVE AMERICAN RIGHTS

HELEN HUNT JACKSON 

A novelist and a poet, Helen Jackson's remarkable A CENTURY OF DISHONOR stirred public outrage over the U.S. government's mistreatment of Native Americans. Her book centered on seven tribes, among them: Cheyennes, Nez Perce, Sioux, Cherokees and detailed four massacres in particular.

She was born Helen Maria Fiske in Amherst, Massachusetts, probably on October 18, 1830 (her monument says 1831).  She had two brothers, both of whom died shortly after birth, and a sister named Anne. Her father was a minister, author, and professor of Latin, Greek, and philosophy at Amherst College.  Her mother died in 1844, and her father died three years later, leaving her in the care of an aunt.

She had a good education, having attended Ipswich Female Seminary and the Abbott Institute, a boarding school in New York City. She was a classmate of the poet Emily Dickinson, also from Amherst. The two carried on a correspondence for all of their lives, but few of their letters have survived.

Helen Maria Fiske Hunt Jackson

In 1852, Helen Fiske married United States Army Captain Edward Bissell Hunt, who died in a military accident in 1863. Her son Murray Hunt died in 1854 of a brain disease and her other son, Rennie Hunt, died of diphtheria in 1865.  Helen began traveling and writing after these deaths.

In the winter of 1873-1874 she was in Colorado Springs, Colorado in search of a cure for tuberculosis. There she met William Sharpless Jackson, a wealthy banker and railroad executive. They married in 1875, together just ten years before she died of cancer in 1885.

Scholars know her as Helen Hunt Jackson, but she never used that name herself—she only used one married name at a time: Helen Hunt or Helen Jackson.

In 1879, her interests turned to the plight of the Native Americans after attending a lecture in Boston by Ponca Chief Standing Bear, who described the forcible removal of the Ponca Indians from their Nebraska reservation. Jackson was angered by what she heard regarding the unfair treatment at the hands of government agents and became an activist. She started investigating and publicizing the wrongdoing, circulating petitions, raising money, and writing letters to The New York Times on behalf of the Poncas.

She also started writing a book condemning the Indian policy of the government and the history of broken treaties.  Her book, A CENTURY OF DISHONOR, called for drastic changes to be made; it was published in 1881.  Jackson then sent a copy to every member of Congress with an admonishment printed in red on the cover, "Look upon your hands: they are stained with the blood of your relations." But, to her disappointment, the book had little impact.

She then went to southern California to take a much needed rest. She had become interested in the area's missions and the Mission Indians on an earlier visit, and now she began an in-depth study. While in Los Angeles, California, she met Don Antonio Coronel, a former mayor and city councilman who had also served as State Treasurer. He was a well-known authority on early life in the area and was also a former inspector of missions for the Mexican government. Don Antonio described to Jackson the plight of the Mission Indians after 1833, when secularization policies led to the sale of mission lands and the dispersal of their residents.

Many of the original Mexican land grants had clauses protecting the Indians on the lands they occupied. But when Americans assumed control of the southwest after the Mexican-American War, they ignored Indian claims to these lands, which led to mass dispossessions. In 1852, there were an estimated fifteen thousand Mission Indians in Southern California. But, because of the adverse impact of dispossessions by Americans, by the time of Jackson's visit they numbered less than four thousand.

The stories told by Don Antonio spurred Jackson into action. Her efforts soon came to the attention of the U.S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Hiram Price, who recommended she be appointed an Interior Department agent. Jackson's assignment was to visit the Mission Indians and ascertain the location and condition of various bands, and determine what lands, if any, should be purchased for their use. With the help of Indian agent Abbot Kinney, Jackson criss-crossed Southern California and documented the appalling conditions she saw. At one point, she hired a law firm to protect the rights of a family of Soboba Indians facing dispossession of their land at the foot of the San Jacinto Mountains.

During this time, Jackson read an account in a Los Angeles newspaper about a Cahuilla Indian who had been shot and killed. His wife, it turned out, was named Ramona. In 1883, she completed her fifty-six page report, which called for a massive government relief efforts, and while a bill embodying her recommendations passed the U.S. Senate, it died in the House of Representatives.

Not discouraged, Jackson decided to write a novel that would depict the Indian experience "in a way to move people's hearts." An inspiration for the undertaking, Jackson admitted, was Uncle Tom's Cabin written years earlier by her friend, Harriet Beecher Stowe.  "If I can do one-hundredth part for the Indian that Mrs. Stowe did for the Negro, I will be thankful," she told a friend.

Jackson was particularly drawn to the fate of her Indian friends in the Temecula area of Riverside County, California and used the story of what happened to them in her novel which was begun in December 1883, with an original title of IN THE NAME OF THE LAW.  The manuscript was completed in slightly over three months and it became her classic novel, RAMONA, about a part-Indian orphan raised in Spanish California society and her Indian husband, Alessandro.  Published in November 1884, it achieved almost instant success.

Jackson then intended to write a children's story on the Indian issue but her health  was deteriorating rapidly and she died of cancer in San Francisco, California in August 12, 1885.

Helen Jackson in later years

Her last letter was written to President Grover Cleveland, urging him to read her early work A CENTURY OF DISHONOR. Speaking to a friend, Jackson said, "My A CENTURY OF DISHONOR and RAMONA are the only things I have done of which I am glad. They will live and bear fruit."

Oh, write of me, not "Died in bitter pains,"

But "Emigrated to another star!"

~Helen Hunt Jackson

Each year, the city of Hemet stages "The Ramona Pageant", an outdoor play based on Jackson's novel RAMONA.

At her request, Jackson was buried October 31, 1885, at Inspiration Point in scenic South Cheyenne Canyon, southwest of Colorado Springs. According to GPS-derived geolocation (accurate to within 10 meters), the memorial's coordinates are latitude 38°46'51.9"N and longitude 104°52'36.7"W. Because the scores of people flocking to her gravesite were threatening the natural beauty of the canyon, her remains were moved to the family plot at Evergreen Cemetery, Colorado Springs, on November 7, 1891. The land is now part of Seven Falls, a privately owned recreation area that charges an entrance fee. The plaque on the large mound of rocks that was her original burial site reads:

IN MEMORY OF HELEN HUNT JACKSON

1831-1885

AND HER BOOK

"RAMONA"

WHICH WAS INSPIRED BY THE BEAUTY

OF THIS SPOT

Sources: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Hunt_Jackson

http://www.thewildwest.org/cowboys/wildwestlegendarywomen/204-helenhuntjackson

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Ramona: A 19th Century Romance

by Lyn Horner




Helen Hunt, c. 1850-1860

Helen Hunt Jackson (October 15, 1830 – August 12, 1885), was an American writer who became an activist on behalf of Native Americans, calling for reform in U.S. Indian policies. Born Helen Maria Fiske in Amherst, Massachusetts, she was the daughter of a minister who also served as a professor of Latin, Greek, and philosophy at Amherst College. She had two brothers, both of whom died soon after birth, and one sister, Anne.

The girls’ mother died in 1844, when Helen was fifteen, and their father died three years later. Financially provided for, Helen attended Ipswich Female Seminary and the Abbott Institute, a boarding school in New York City. She was a classmate of Emily Dickinson and the two corresponded throughout their lives.

In 1852, Helen married U.S. Army Captain Edward Bissell Hunt. They had two sons, both of whom died as young children. In 1863, her husband also died in a military accident. After her tragic losses, Helen Hunt began writing. She published her early work anonymously, usually under the name "H.H." Ralph Waldo Emerson admired her poetry and used several of her poems in his public readings.

Hunt traveled extensively. While in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 1873-74, she met William Sharpless Jackson, a wealthy banker and railroad executive. They married in 1875 and she was best known under the name Jackson in her later writings.



Ponca Chief Standing Bear; Public domain

In 1879, Jackson attended a lecture in Boston given by Chief Standing Bear of the Ponca Tribe. The chief described the forcible removal of the Ponca from Nebraska to a reservation in Indian Territory (Oklahoma), and their terrible living conditions there. Disturbed by these revelations, Jackson began investigating and publicizing government misconduct in Indian affairs. She circulated petitions, raised money and wrote letters, carrying on heated exchanges with federal officials over the injustices committed against Native Americans.

Hunt exposed government treaty violations and documented the corruption of Indian agents, military officers, and settlers who encroached on and stole Indian lands. She won support from several newspaper editors who published her reports. One of her favorite targets was U.S. Secretary of Interior Carl Schurz, who she once called "the most adroit liar I ever knew.”



Carl Schurz,1870-1880; Public domain

In 1881, Helen Hunt Jackson published A Century of Dishonor, in which she condemned state and federal Indian policies. She recounted a shameful history of broken treaties and called for sweeping governmental reforms toward Native Americans. The author sent a copy to every member of Congress with a quote from Benjamin Franklin printed in red on the cover: "Look upon your hands: they are stained with the blood of your relations."

The New York Times later wrote that Hunt "soon made enemies at Washington by her often unmeasured attacks, and while on general lines she did some good, her case was weakened by her inability, in some cases, to substantiate the charges she had made; hence many who were at first sympathetic fell away."

Helen went to southern California to rest. Interested in the area's missions and Mission Indians, she began another investigation. In Los Angeles, she met Don Antonio Coronel, former mayor of the city and an authority on early Californio life. He had served as inspector of missions for the Mexican government. Coronel told her about the plight of the Mission Indians under Mexican rule and later the U.S., leading to their removal from mission lands. Under its original land grants, the Mexican government allowed resident Indians to occupy such lands. After taking control of the territory in 1848, the U.S. dismissed most Mission Indian occupancy claims. In 1852, an estimated 15,000 Mission Indians lived in Southern California. By the time of Jackson's visit, they numbered fewer than 4,000.

Jackson approached the U.S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Hiram Price, who recommended her appointment as an Interior Department agent. Her task was to visit the Mission Indians, ascertain their location and living conditions, and determine if lands should be purchased for their use. Jackson traveled throughout Southern California and documented her findings. She submitted her 56-page report in 1883. It recommended broad government relief for the Mission Indians, including the purchase of lands for reservations and the establishment of more Indian schools. A bill embodying her recommendations passed the U.S. Senate but died in the House of Representatives.

Jackson decided to write a novel to reach a wider audience. To Don Antonio Coronel, she wrote, “I am going to write a novel, in which will be set forth some Indian experiences in a way to move people's hearts. People will read a novel when they will not read serious books. She was inspired by her friend Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852). "If I could write a story that would do for the Indian one-hundredth part what Uncle Tom's Cabin did for the Negro, I would be thankful the rest of my life."

First Edition cover; Public domain

Jackson’s novel, Ramona, was published in 1884. The main character, Ramona, was an orphan girl, half Indian and half Scots, raised in Spanish California. The story relates her and her Indian husband Alessandro’s struggle for land of their own. The characters were based on people Jackson knew and the story on incidents she had encountered. A great success among a wide reading public, the book was popular for generations, with an estimated 300 reprints. Its romantic story brought many tourists to Southern California, wanting to see places described in the novel.

Encouraged by her book's popularity, Jackson planned to write a children's story about Indian issues, but did not live to complete it. Her last letter was written to President Grover Cleveland. In it she said:

Helen Hunt Jackson; before 1885

"From my death bed I send you message of heartfelt thanks for what you have already done for the Indians. I ask you to read my Century of Dishonor. I am dying happier for the belief I have that it is your hand that is destined to strike the first steady blow toward lifting this burden of infamy from our country and righting the wrongs of the Indian race."

Jackson died of stomach cancer in 1885 in San Francisco, California. Her husband arranged for her burial near Seven Falls at Inspiration Point overlooking Colorado Springs, Colorado. Her remains were later moved to Evergreen Cemetery in Colorado Springs.

One year after Jackson's death the North American Review described Ramona as "unquestionably the best novel yet produced by an American woman" and named it, along with Uncle Tom's Cabin, as the two most ethical novels of the 19th century. The book has never been out of print and has been adapted for four films as well as stage and television productions.