by Molly Froerer

Created on: October 15, 2009

Sarah Winnemucca was a Northern Paiute woman born around 1844, and yet despite her race and gender became an influential activist, school organizer, and author in English. She spoke five languages, including English and Spanish as well as three Native American languages, and worked as an interpreter and activist. Throughout her life, Sarah used her skills and abilities to protect and advance of her people.

Winnemucca was born in the last days of independence for the Northern Piute of what is now western Nevada. Her grandfather, a chief, welcomed the white people coming to their land and even helped John C. Fremont in fighting against Mexico. Her father, also a chief, was more suspicious of the white people and did not trust them. Nevertheless, Sarah traveled to California with her grandfather when she was six years old to meet these "white brothers," as her grandfather called them.

When Winnemucca was 14, she joined Major Ormsby's household to be a companion for his daughter, his maid, and receive an education. This is where she became fluent in many languages, which was to serve her well the rest of her life. When Winnemucca was 16 she attended a Catholic boarding school where she continued to increase her fluency in English and make friends with non-Paiute people.

After the Pyramid Lake War, the Northern Paiutes were increasingly forced onto reservations and their abilities to live their traditional lifestyle were curtailed. At this time, Winnemucca worked as a teacher and interpreter for the well-respected Indian Agent Samuel Parrish. His fairness with the Paiutes made him unpopular with the local whites, and he was therefore replaced by the corrupt William Rinehart, who allowed the best reservation land to be taken by whites. Some Paiutes, forced off their land, began raiding white settlers, triggering the Bannock War. During this time, Winnemucca worked as a translator and scout for the U.S. army.

In 1880, Winnemucca traveled to Washington D.C. to plead her people's case before Secretary of the Interior Carl Schurz and President Rutherford B. Hayes. She received many promises and assurances, but these were later broken by the government, which led to Winnemucca being distrusted by her people. Still, she continued her advocacy of her people's rights, giving over 300 speeches, supported largely by Elizabeth Peabody and Mary Peabody Mann.

Despite Winnemucca's efforts, the Paiutes were forced to leave their traditional lands and walk to the Yakima reservation

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