Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins
"I am crying out to you for justice,-- yes, pleading for the far-off plains of the West, the dusky mourner, whose tears are pleading for her husband, or for their children, who are sent far away from them. Your Christian minister will hold my people against their will; not because he loves them -- no far from it, -- but because it puts money in his pockets." - Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins
Photo courtesy of https://www.nps.gov/people/sarah-winnemucca.htm
Erasure
Indigenous people have long been relegated in our public memory as existing only in the past. Consider how few modern portrayals there are in the media on Native culture comparatively to period pieces. This erasure is more than poor media representation. There is a dichotomy that exists in situating our public memory to relegating Indigenous people solely to the past while not addressing their historical presence. This occurs due to the contrast of the white narrative attempting to erase the Indigenous presence while simultaneously benefiting from being seen as the victors over Indigenous people, therefore devising a certain and limited narrative pertaining to Indigenous historical presence. Today, the current administration of the United States is actively removing the historical presence of People of Color from their archives, historical sites, and public webpages. As of 12/10/25, The letter from Captain Silas Soule quoted below was no longer available on the National Park website.
Isabella Bird, a white European Tourist
"The Americans will never solve the Indian Problem till the Indian is extinct." (Quote from A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains.)
Captain Silas Soule's Letter Regarding Sand Creek Massacre
"it was hard to see little children on their knees have their brains beat out by men professing to be civilized. One [woman] was wounded and a fellow took a hatchet to finish her, and he cut one arm off, and held the other with one hand and dashed the hatchet through her brain."
Winnemucca's Life & Work
"I have said everything I could on your behalf...I have suffered everything but death to come here with this paper." -Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins
Her Life
Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins was a Paiute woman who navigated the sweeping colonization brought West by white Euro-Americans. She watched as her family and her people continuously had their land stolen and promises made to them broken. During her childhood, she learned English and throughout her life she worked as an interpreter between her people, the military, government officials, and Indian Agents. Living on reservations only garnered her desire to speak for the betterment of her people and for fair treatment. In her autobiography, Life Among the Piutes: Their Wrongs and Claims, she continuously noted the messages of Christianity that were used to dispossess, disenfranchise, and violate her people. She spoke up for the needs of her people by confronting the injustices she saw caused by nefarious Indian agents and the cruelty of reservations. She advocated continuously for the betterment of her people by going to Washington to address the government directly. Despite her continued advocacy for her people and her audience with the government, including sitting president Rutherford B. Hayes, the government never fulfilled their promises and her people never returned to their ancestral land.
Major Achievements
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First Indigenous woman to publish a book
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Gave over 300 public speeches advocating for the fair treatment of Indigenous people on reservations
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One of the first Indigenous women to testify in Congress
