Helen Hunt Jackson – författare

First published in 1881 and reprinted in numerous editions since, Helen Hunt Jackson's A Century of Dishonor is a classic account of the U.S. government's flawed Indian policy and the unfair and cruel treatment afforded North American Indians by expansionist Americans. Jackson wrote the book as a polemic to ""appeal to the hearts and conscience of the American people,"" who she hoped would demand legislative reform from Congress and redeem the country's name from the stain of a ""century of dishonor."" Her efforts, which constitute a landmark in Indian reform, helped begin the long process of public awareness for Indian rights that continues to the present day.Beginning with a legal brief on the original Indian right of occupancy, A Century of Dishonor continues with Jackson's analysis of how irresponsibility, dishonesty, and perfidy on the part of Americans and the U.S. government devastated the Delaware, Cheyenne, Nez Perce, Sioux, Ponca, Winnebago, and Cherokee Indians. Jackson describes the government's treatment of the Indians as ""a shameful record of broken treaties and unfulfilled promises"" exacerbated by ""a sickening record of murder, outrage, robbery, and wrongs"" committed by frontier settlers, with only an occasional Indian retaliation. Such notable events as the flight of Chief Joseph of the Nez Perces and the Cherokee Trail of Tears illustrate Jackson's arguments.Valerie Sherer Mathes's foreword traces Jackson's life and writings and places her in the context of reform advocacy in the midst of nineteenth century expansionism. This unabridged paperback edition contains an index, and the complete appendix, which includes Jackson's correspondence concerning the Sand Creek Massacre and her report as Special Comminnioner to investigate the needs of California's Mission Indians.

Journalist, novelist, and scholar Helen Hunt Jackson (1830-85) remains one of the most influential and popular writers on the struggles of American Indians. This volume collects for the first time seven of her most important articles, annotated and introduced by Jackson scholars Valerie Sherer Mathes and Phil Brigandi. Valuable as eyewitness accounts of Mission Indian life in Southern California in the 1880s, the articles also offer insight into Jackson's career.The articles served as the basis for Jackson's 1884 romantic novel, Ramona, still popular among Americans today. Jackson journeyed to Southern California in the 1880s to learn firsthand how Indians there lived. She found them in a demoralized state, beset by failed government policies and constantly threatened with losing their lands. The numerous articles and editorial responses she penned made her a leading voice in the fight for American Indian rights, a role she embraced wholeheartedly.As this collection also shows, Jackson's fondness for Old California helped shape the region's mythology and tourist culture. But her most important work was her influence in getting reservations set aside for the beleaguered Southern California tribes. Although her recommendations were not implemented until after her death, Helen Hunt Jackson's stark and revealing portrait drew national attention to the effects of white encroachment on Indian lands and cultures in California and inspired generations of reformers who continued her legacy. This unprecedented collection offers fresh insight into the life and work of a well-known and influential writer and reformer.

Helen Hunt Jackson's passionate crusade for Indian rights comes to life in this collection of more than 200 letters, most of which have never been published before. With Valerie Sherer Mathes's helpful notes, the letters reveal the behind-the-scenes drama of Jackson's involvement in Indian reform, which led her to write A Century of Dishonor and her protest novel, Ramona.Ralph Waldo Emerson described Jackson as the ""greatest American woman poet."" These stirring letters will intrigue anyone interested in Indian affairs, nineteenth-century women's studies, or the social history of Victorian America, where Jackson made her mark despite the restrictions on women. Among her correspondents were Oliver Wendell Holmes, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Moncure D. Conway, Henry B. Whipple, Henry L. Dawes, Henry Teller, Carl Schurz, and of course, commissioners of Indian affairs and such prominent editors as Whitelaw Reid, Charles Dudley Warner, and Richard Watson Gilder.The letters are presented in sections on the Ponca and Mission Indian causes, allowing readers to focus on the time period and Indian group of choice.