The Sarah Winnemucca Poster Project

Early Life
Sarah Winnemucca did many interesting things in her life. Sarah was a Paiute Indian and her Indian name was Thocmetony, until she changed it to Sarah. Thocmetony means shell flower. She was born in 1844 in what is today Nevada at the Humboldt sink. Her Father was Chief of all the North Paiute Indians. Her Grandfather was Truckee and guided John C. Freemont across the Great basin. Sarah was then taken on a trip with her grandfather and placed her with William Ormsby. They spoke English and wrote it, so it was simple for Sarah to pick up the language and writing. She became one of few Paiute Indians who could read and write in English. Later on in her life Sarah met the love of her life Lewis H. Hopkins and soon married him. Lewis went with Sarah to deliver many lectures. Sarah also joined the army because they needed an interpreter like her. Sarah also helped build and teach at many different schools. Sarah’s people and the whites had many different problems between each other, even when Sarah was going to school. Sarah didn’t have an ordinary life.

Sarah's Husband and Interpreting
After Sarah met her husband she did a lot of interpreting even in the army. Sarah and her husband went east and delivered over 300 lectures. Soon after that she got a promotion. Then they got a lot more money. The problem though, was that Sarah’s husband had a gambling problem. So they ran into a financial problem, even after all the money Sarah had made. While Sarah was working for the U.S. Army she was used as an interpreter, scout, and guide. During the War between the Army and the Banncocks, the Army wanted to contact Chief Winnemucca. They wanted to tell him not to join the hostile Indians. No one was willing to deliver the message because they were terrified to go on Banncock territory. Then Sarah decided that she would do it and delivered the message safely. Then Sarah went to Yakima Reservation to serve as an interpreter. Then she served as an interpreter at the Malhar Reservation. That reservation had been put aside and became a new home for the Paiute Indian Tribe. Sarah did more than just lectures and in the army. Sarah also helped out a lot of schools.

Schools
Sarah had help building schools and taught in many of them. At a reservation the Indians had an agent and the agent was suppose to provide food and clothing but did not. The Indians had an opinion that the agent had been selling the food and clothing to get rich. Sarah went to see the general and told him the problem. The general told her to see John P. Jones. John listened to her and gave her a piece of gold but that’s it. Then finally a new agent was sent, Sam B. Parish. He provided almost everything and even helped Sarah build a school. Sarah built schools to promote Indian lifestyle and language. Then The Dawes Severalty Act of 1887 happened. The Dawes Severalty Act required children to attend English speaking boarding schools. Mary Peabody tried to turn the school into a technical training center. Sarah helped children by teaching them to speak for themselves. Sarah went to a mission school with her sister for only three weeks. The reason they only got to go to the mission school for three weeks was because white folks complained. Sarah and her sister were soon kicked out of the school. Paiute Indians are glad Sarah opened up schools for them to learn how to read and write in English.

Conflict between Whites and Indians
There has been a lot of conflict between the Pauite Indians and the whites on and off. It all started when more white people were moving into Nevada. Then two white men were killed. Indians were mistakenly blamed. Soon after the Indians being blamed some other Indians were killed. For example, Sarah’s grandfather was one of few Indians killed. A truce was finally settled and Sarah’s people were forced to move to Pyramid Lake Reservation. First only Paiute Indians lived there until a railroad cut through the reservation and whites moved in. The whites took the best land and then once again trouble began. The truce was broken. Indians were accused of stealing, again. So soldiers hunted them down and some Indians were killed. Finally, things started to settle down and less and less whites and Indians were killed. One thing though that made Sarah not so afraid of Indians was when she was young, her mother and she went to California. Sarah met white people for the first time and became very ill with poison oak. Then a white women put medicine on her face and the rash healed. So after her grandfather was killed she had forgotten what the white women had done for her and went back to being scared of white people. Then she got older and realized they weren’t so bad.

Sarah's Achievments
Sarah learned many things throughout her life. She learned how to read and write in English. She also learned things from students while she was teaching them. Also, she learned about white people and all the diseases they brought and that killed many of Sarah’s people. She was the first Native American woman known to secure a copyright and publish in the English language. Her books are about her people during the first forty years of contact with explorers and settlers. Most of Sarah’s lectures were about women knowing as much about tribal affairs as men. She also mainly spoke out about injustice. Sarah died at age 47 in 1891. She won place in history as one of America’s most honored Indian woman. There is also a statue in memory of her. I think Sarah had a rough life because I may have died when infected by the whites or killed in war. Also, I think I would have stopped trying to build schools for children because of the Dawes Severalty Act, but she didn’t. I am surprised about them making a monument of her because although there is a statue of her I never heard of Sarah Winnemucca before this assignment. After all I have learned many things about Indian life and how hard it was for them.