to the writing community of Newport, Rhode Island. Thomas Wentworth Higginson, a respected writer and critic, soon became Helen’s writing mentor, friend, and confidant. Newport allowed Helen the freedom to write even though woman writers were at that time far from being accepted. Because women writers were still an enigma, Jackson was forced to publish her works anonymously. Only whenRamona was published in 1884 did Jackson believe that her true identity was no longer an issue.

Because of the phenomenal success of Ramona, many people have the impression that Jackson was really only the author of a solitary novel. This could not be further from the truth. From her early years at Newport and continuously throughout her life, Jackson wrote in many different subject areas.

Jackson’s early writing, however, reveals little of the passion and conviction that the cause of the American Indians would eventually evoke in her. The seed for her later and most famous writing was planted during a trip to California in May of 1872. After crossing the Platte River, Helen was given her first close-up experience of what Indians looked like and how they lived. This singular encounter caused Helen a certain degree of heartache as she witnessed for herself the abject poverty in which this disenfranchised people lived.

Bits of Travel appeared in 1870, and Bits of Travel at Home was finally published in 1878. During the period between writing these complementary pieces, Jackson’s very successful “No Name” novels were hailed as drawing-room masterpieces. Jackson published Mercy Philbrick’s Choice in 1876 and Hetty’s Strange History in 1877. Up to this point in her writing career, Helen Hunt Jackson had published under the name H.H.

When Century of Dishonor appeared in 1881, Helen received all the criticism and vindictive press that was associated with writing about the plight of American Indians. Jackson’s hope was that this laboriously researched work, which told the history of how badly the Indians had been treated, would spark some sympathy for them. In fact, the opposite proved to be the case. At her expense, she mailed a copy of Century of Dishonor to every congressman, again to little avail.

A woman who was no stranger to tragedy and who was relentless in pursuing what she believed to be right, Jackson continued to badger members of Congress. In particular, she focused on getting the attention of the secretary of the interior, Henry Teller, as well as appealing to Hiram Price, commissioner of Indian affairs. Both thought that Jackson was raising the controversial question of Indian land rights as a means of gaining publicity, but eventually the constant letter writing and appeals paid off. Jackson’s singular efforts gained for her the position of special commissioner of Indian affairs in Southern California. This was a major breakthrough, particularly because Jackson was the first woman to hold such a government position.

Abbot Kinney was her choice for coagent and interpreter—a traveler and visionary like herself. They met while she was on an assignment for Century magazine in California. Two years after Century of Dishonor had been published, Jackson and Kinney began their travels of the Southern California missions. What had originally begun as a crusade to gain land rights for the Ponca Indians in Nebraska turned into a full-scale investigation into how mission Indians were being treated under government laws.

By now, Jackson had become very familiar with all of the missions in Southern California, and she undertook her commission with passion and zeal. Much of her traveling in Southern California in 1883 was done by carriage. With old stagecoach routes as their only means of traveling from one mission site to the next, Jackson and her troupe crisscrossed the sand plains and traversed the rugged mountains of the three most southerly counties of California.

Even though theirs was a fact-finding trip, Jackson’s party continually came upon violations of Indian rights by white land settlers. Helen’s passion for writing was now being used to record facts, figures, and names that she hoped would indict those early landowners.

To her dismay, Jackson’s fifty-six-page report, which was appended to Century of Dishonor, created little stir. Perhaps the government hoped that the task would be more than one person could bear and that the society lady from New England would return to writing children’s books and homilies. Realizing that the plight of the Indians was still in the balance, she took the advice of her close friend J. B. Gilder and began to write a novel.

When Gilder had first suggested that a novel might be the way to prick the conscience of a nation, Jackson balked at the immensity of such a project. Now, however, Jackson saw the need for such a book and was prepared to write her best. The many trips to California had steeped her in Indian culture and lifestyle. Despite the fact that Ramona forcefully portrays injustices toward the Indians, the novel quickly became a classic because it paints an exquisite, romantic portrait of mission life in old California.

Summary

Helen Hunt Jackson was a woman who took up the cause of a people that had little or no voice in society. Like many other pioneering women of the nineteenth century, she contributed greatly to both literature and social reform.

Jackson’s untimely death meant that she did not see the full effect of her efforts, but other individuals and groups took up where Jackson’s work and unfailing devotion to the Indian people left off. The Women’s National Indian Association quickly recognized Jackson’s contribution and hailed Ramona as a strong voice for Indian reform. Members of Congress, the commissioner of Indian affairs, members of various Christian organizations, and Indian reformers gathered at Lake Mohonk to discuss ways of dealing with Indian land rights. Many of the reforms that were later implemented by the government came directly as a result of these meetings. Jackson’s message had little impact while she was alive, but soon after her death, groups and individuals were to carry that message throughout America.

While Jackson’s contribution to the American Indian cause has etched her name in American history, her personality and life also attest this same vision. Ralph Waldo Emerson considered Jackson one of America’s greatest poets. Such an accolade only draws attention to Jackson as a woman who was forced to live in anonymity for much of her literary life. Helen Hunt Jackson provided the leadership and courage that would inspire many more American women to turn their dreams into reality.

Bibliography

Banning, Evelyn. Helen Hunt Jackson. New York: Vanguard Press, 1973. Relying heavily on the work of Ruth Odell’s 1939 biography, this work takes a painstaking look at Jackson’s lesser writings. Indian rights are not a central theme, yet its scholarly approach makes this a useful reference.

Garner, Van H. The Broken Ring: The Destruction of the California Indians. Tucson, Ariz.: Westernlore Press, 1982. Thorough and well researched, this work covers the period from the 1840’s to the 1980’s. There are a number of useful entries concerning Jackson’s specific dealings with various Indian tribes.

Jackson, Helen Hunt. A Century of Dishonor. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1885. A thorough and meticulously researched document that became the backbone of Indian land reform. Much of the book resembles a legal brief, yet it manages to communicate the passion of Jackson’s quest for reform.

Mathes, Valerie Sherer. Helen Hunt Jackson and Her Indian Reform Legacy. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1990. The purpose of this work was to reestablish Jackson as a prominent author and reformer. With thoughtfulness and sound research, this work offers an excellent insight into American Indian history.

May, Antoinette. Helen Hunt Jackson: A Lonely Voice of Conscience. San Francisco, Chronicle Press, 1987. This is a complete bibliography of Helen Hunt Jackson’s life from early childhood to her death. May’s writing is based primarily on anecdotal sources, and she embellishes much of Jackson’s life with an almost fictional style.