Sarah Winnemucca

Title:

Sarah Winnemucca

Author:

Zanjani, Sally Springmeyer, 1937-2018.

ISBN:

9780803249172

9780803299214

Publication Information:

Physical Description:

xi, 366 pages : illustrations, map ; 24 cm.

Series:

American Indian lives.

Contents:

The World of the Paiutes: "Many years ago, when my people were happier than they are now" -- The San Joaquin: "Rag friend" -- Genoa: "Our dear good friend, Major Ormsby" -- The Pine Nut Mountains: "I felt the world growing cold" -- Winnemucca Lake: "It is a fearful thing to tell, but it must be told" -- Camp McDermit: "Can you wonder that I like to have my people taken care of by the army?" -- Winnemucca: "I would willingly throw off the garments of civilization and mount my pony" -- Malheur Reservation: "I cannot tell or express how happy we were" -- The Bannock War Begins: "I, only an Indian woman, went and saved my father and his people" -- The Bannock War: "I had a vision, and I was screaming in my sleep" -- Yakama Reservation: "I am crying out to you for justice" -- Washington DC: "This which I hold in my hand is our only hope" -- Fort Vancouver: "For shame! For shame! You dare to cry out liberty when you hold us in places against our will" -- Boston: "I pray of you, I implore of you, I beseech of you, hear our pitiful cry to you, sweep away the agency system" -- Lovelock: "Education has done it all" -- Henry's Lake: "Let my name die out and be forgotten" -- Epilogue: Sarah Today.

Abstract:

"Born in a Paiute community in western Nevada at a time when the Paiutes' homeland and traditional way of life were increasingly threatened, Sarah [Winnemucca] dedicated much of her life to working for her people. She played an instrumental and controversial role as interpreter and messenger for the U.S. Army during the Bannock War of 1878 and traveled to Washington in 1880 to obtain the release of her people from confinement on the Yakama reservation. She toured the East Coast in the 1880s, tirelessly giving speeches about the plight of her people and heavily criticizing the reservation system.

In 1883 she produced her autobiography - the first written by a Native American woman. Using private contributions, she returned to Nevada and founded a Native school whose educational practices and standards were far ahead of its time. [This book is] composed not only of public challenges and accomplishments but also of private struggles, joys, and ambitions. Unforgettable glimpses of her personality and private life leap from these pages: her notorious sharp tongue and wit, her love of performance, her place in a legendary family of Paiute leaders, her long string of failed relationships, and, at the end, possible poisoning by a romantic rival."--Jacket.

Subject Term:

Northern Paiute Indians -- Biography.

Northern Paiute Indians -- Government relations.

Northern Paiute Indians. (OCoLC)fst01039218

Personal Subject:

Winnemucca, Sarah, 1844?-1891.

Winnemucca, Sarah, 1844?-1891 (OCoLC)fst00103287

Genre:

collective biographies.

Biographies.

Biographie.

Other Format:

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Material Type	Status
Searching... State Library of Oregon	979.004974577092 Zanja	In-Library Use Only (Not For Loan)	Searching... Unknown
Searching... State Library of Oregon	979.004974577092 Zanja	4-Week Loan	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

This book is the triumphant and moving story of Sarah Winnemucca (1844-91), one of the most influential and charismatic Native women in American history. Born into a legendary family of Paiute leaders in western Nevada, Sarah dedicated much of her life to working for her people. She played an instrumental and controversial role as interpreter and messenger for the U.S. Army during the Bannock War of 1878 and traveled to Washington in 1880 to obtain the release of her people from confinement on the Yakama Reservation. She toured the East Coast in the 1880s, tirelessly giving speeches about the plight of her people and heavily criticizing the reservation system. In 1883 she produced her autobiography--the first written by a Native woman--and founded a Native school whose educational practices were far ahead of its time. Sally Zanjani also reveals Sarah's notorious sharp tongue and wit, her love of performance, her string of failed relationships, and at the end, possible poisoning by a romantic rival.

Author Notes

Sally Zanjani is on the faculty of the political science department at the University of Nevada, Reno. She is the author of A Mine of Her Own: Women Prospectors in the American West, 1850-1950 (Nebraska 1997) and other works.

Summary:

Reviews (3)

Publisher's Weekly Review

A tireless advocate for the Paiute Indians and the granddaughter of Truckee, who guided John Charles Frmont across the Great Basin to California, Winnemucca (1844-1891) was the author of Life Among the Paiutes: Their Wrongs and Claims (1883) the first book "by an Indian woman, the first by an Indian west of the Rockies, and one of the earliest by an Indian west of the Mississippi." Having grown up amid the wars, massacres, removals and betrayals that devastated the Paiute despite Fremont's assurances, Winnemucca struggled "to find a place for herself and her people in the world [white men] had snatched away." Founded on Zanjani's (A Mine of Her Own: Women Prospectors in the American West) painstaking examination of civil documents, private papers and newspapers, this meticulous account details such pivotal events as Winnemucca's interpreting services for the American army, her quarrels with usually corrupt Bureau of Indian Affairs agents, her impassioned lectures, her unsuccessful trip to Washington to plead that the Paiute be allowed to return to Oregon, and her journey to Boston, where under the auspices of Elizabeth Peabody and Mary Mann she wrote her book and met Boston's intellectual and social elite. Unfortunately, the prose is flat when it isn't Winnemucca's, and the story is hemmed in by nervous caveats "if," "maybe," "probably." Even new details lack vitality in this account, which will primarily interest scholars. Photographs not seen by PW. (Apr. 20) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Choice Review

Zanjani (political science, Univ. of Nevada-Reno) brings together period writings and historical accounts in a thoroughly documented biography of a brilliant individual considered, along with Pocahontas and Sacagawea, to be one of the most notable Native American women in history. Sarah Winnemucca, late-19th-century Paiute leader and educator, wrote Life among the Piutes: Their Wrongs and Claims (1883), the first book in English by a Native American woman. In print and lectures, Winnemucca exposed corrupt reservation policies, carrying her crusade from Nevada to San Francisco, Boston, and Washington DC. While believing in the power of literacy, she resisted the notion that education must eradicate the "Indian" in the child; she opposed the removal of children from their families for schooling. Winnemucca was often guided by revelation but eschewed messianic movements (including the Ghost Dance). Her life was marked by physical hardship and dangerous exploits. She and her tribe battled for cultural survival in an already harsh environment. Her service as a scout won respect and criticism from both US military and Paiute tribal factions, while her dashing personal appearance served her well on the stage during a brief era of American fascination with "Indian princesses." Upper-division undergraduates and above. V. Giglio Florida Atlantic University

Library Journal Review

Here, the prolific Zanjani (A Mine of Her Own) chronicles the life and times of one of the most significant Native American women of the 19th century. Sarah Winnemucca (1844-91) was the daughter and granddaughter, respectively, of Paiute chiefs Winnemucca and Truckee. Her course in life followed these two leaders closely in attempting to help the Paiute adapt to increasing influence and pressure from Anglo expansion. With authority, Zanjani details the progressive effects of the settlers on the Paiute through Sarah's eyes and life experiences. Sharing her father and grandfather's belief that to survive the Paiute must peacefully coexist with the white man, she became a Bureau of Indian Affairs interpreter at Camp McDermitt in Oregon. She also dedicated her life to pursuing fair and just treatment for the Paiute people by the U.S. government. To this end, Sarah journeyed to Washington, DC, and other major Eastern cities, speaking publicly of the injustices against the Paiute people, and wrote her autobiography, Life Among the Paiutes: Their Wrongs and Claims (1883). Zanjani's excellent history of this remarkable woman is recommended for all public and academic libraries. John E. Dockall, Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

List of Illustrations	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xi
Prologue	p. 1
1. The World of the Paiutes: "Many years ago, when my people were happier than they are now"	p. 5
2. The San Joaquin: "Rag friend"	p. 20
3. Genoa: "Our dear good friend, Major Ormsby"	p. 42
4. The Pine Nut Mountains: "I felt the world growing cold"	p. 55
5. Winnemucca Lake: "It is a fearful thing to tell, but it must be told"	p. 68
6. Camp McDermit: "Can you wonder that I like to have my people taken care of by the army?"	p. 90
7. Winnemucca: "I would willingly throw off the garments of civilization and mount my pony"	p. 114
8. Malheur Reservation: "I cannot tell or express how happy we were"	p. 128
9. The Bannock War Begins: "I, only an Indian woman, went and saved my father and his people"	p. 146
10. The Bannock War: "I had a vision, and I was screaming in my sleep"	p. 169
11. Yakama Reservation: "I am crying out to you for justice"	p. 189
12. Washington DC: "This which I hold in my hand is our only hope"	p. 202
13. Fort Vancouver: "For shame! For shame! You dare to cry out liberty when you hold us in places against our will"	p. 219
14. Boston: "I pray of you, I implore of you, I beseech of you, hear our pitiful cry to you, sweep away the agency system"	p. 236
15. Lovelock: "Education has done it all"	p. 255
16. Henry's Lake: "Let my name die out and be forgotten"	p. 284
Epilogue: Sarah Today	p. 299
Notes	p. 307
Bibliography	p. 347
Index	p. 357

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Summary

Summary

Author Notes

Summary:

Reviews (3)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Choice Review

Library Journal Review

Table of Contents