A Century of Dishonor

A Century of Dishonor (1884) is a work of nonfiction by Helen Hunt Jackson. Inspired by a speech given by Ponca chief Standing Bear in Boston, A Century of Dishonor attempts to reckon with the genocide and displacement of Native Americans and the passage of Indian Appropriations Act of 1871. At her own expense, Hunt Jackson sent copies of the book to every member of Congress, hoping to convince them to amend official government policies and to end the mistreatment of indigenous peoples across the country. Largely dismissed upon publication, the book managed to galvanize a minority of white Americans in solidarity with Native people nationwide and led to some minor government reforms. After meeting Standing Bear in 1879, Hunt Jackson spent months at Manhattan’s Astor Library to compile research on the treatment of Native Americans. Using government reports and personal testimonies, she weaves a story of seven tribes whose treaties with the United States were broken, who were removed from their ancestral lands, and whose people were massacred by settlers and military forces. She provides background on the histories and cultures of the Delaware, Cheyenne, Nez Perce, Sioux, Ponca, Winnebago, and Cherokee peoples, arguing that their way of life had a vital impact on the formation of the United States. Crucially, she cites statistics directly from the War Department and the Department of Interior which show that the government openly pursued a campaign of violence against Native Americans. She argues: “It makes little difference, however, where one opens the record of the history of the Indians; every page and every year has its dark stain.” Providing the incontrovertible facts of the nation’s actions, its dishonorable conduct, she demands not just answers, but change. That her activism was largely ignored remains tragic.

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