Helen Hunt Jackson Quotes
Ramona
She had previously written a formal report (See A Century of Dishoner) which was heralded by the politicians but led to no reforms. She then tried a modern technique of bypassing the politicians and going direct to the public by writing a novel which made the same case.
Helen Hunt Jackson, 1830-1885, Special Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Title of novel she wrote delineating the ill-treatment of the Indians by the Federal Government, 1884
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Helen Hunt Jackson was an American poet and writer who became an activist on behalf of improved treatment of Native Americans by the United States government. She described the adverse effects of government actions in her history A Century of Dishonor (1881). Her novel Ramona (1884) dramatized the federal government's mistreatment of Native Americans in Southern California after the Mexican–American War and attracted considerable attention to her cause. Commercially popular, it was estimated to have been reprinted 300 times and most readers liked its romantic and picturesque qualities rather than its political content. The novel was so popular that it attracted many tourists to Southern California who wanted to see places from the book.
