(AMERICAN INDIANS) Hopkins Sarah Winnemucca An impassioned l

Sale 2310 - Lot 5

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(AMERICAN INDIANS.) Hopkins, Sarah Winnemucca. An impassioned letter to the President, complaining of corrupt Indian agents. Autograph Letter Signed to President Grover Cleveland. 4 pages on 4 sheets, 11 x 8 inches; minimal wear, one phrase inked out. With her unstamped envelope, and a clipping referenced in the letter. San Francisco, CA, 6 March 1885

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Sarah Winnemucca (circa 1844-1891) was a Paiute author and activist, best known for Life among the Paiutes (1883), believed to be the first book by an American Indian woman in the United States. She married an Indian agent named Lewis Hopkins, and lectured widely across the country. By way of introduction, she explains to the president: "At 15 years I had mastered the English tongue sufficient to begin working for my people. From that time up to date I have fought an uphill fight to try and place them on an equal footing with other nations of the earth. It is needless to say my efforts have failed, yet I am not discourage." The bulk of her letter is devoted to an exposé of corrupt Indian agents: "25 years experience among Indian agents compels me to say honest agents are like angel's visits." She argues: "For hundreds of years my people have lived without the care of an agent, and were never as poor as they are to day, or as few in number. Call off your agents, I beseech you. If they must be supported, do it in Washington. It will come cheaper to the government. My people have been afflicted with them long enough." She concludes her letter with a list of personal references, including the renowned educator Elizabeth Palmer Peabody.