Voting Station

Sarah Winnemucca

Please vote to return to collections.

Native American Icon

The Resume

    (1844-October 16, 1891)
    Born in Nevada
    Birth name was Thocmentony ('Shell Flower' in Paiute)
    Indian Rights Activist, Educator, and Writer
    of ‘Life Among the Paiutes’ (1883), the first book written by a Native American woman
    Father was Chief Winnemucca of the Northern Paiute tribe

Why she might be annoying:

    She wore outlandish ‘Indian Princess’ outfits on her lecture tours.
    'Life Among the Paiutes’ has been falsely hailed as the ‘first book written by an Indian.’
    Her book contains many chronological inconsistencies, leading some to propose that the book was ghost-written by Nathaniel Hawthorne’s sister-in-law, Elizabeth Peabody.
    She was divorced.
    She was widely disliked by Indian tribes for her second marriage to a white Indian Department official.
    She was accused of prostitution.
    She was accused of revealing hidden Paiute water sources in the Nevada deserts to government reservationists.
    She was accused of selling out the Paiute tribe during the Bannock War negotiations.
    Her school for Indian children, the only viable alternative to government assimilationist schools, failed miserably.

Why she might not be annoying:

    She was distrusted by both Indians and government officials for her role as an Indian translator (don’t shoot the messenger).
    Her first husband abandoned her in Salt Lake City.
    Her national lecture tour was a resounding success.
    What support she attained was compromised when she started meddling in the Indian Department’s oppressive policies (one newspaper told her to ‘pack up her duds and winter pine nuts and go on a lecturing tour’).
    She advocated ceding decisions in the Dawes General Allotment Act to the Indian Chiefs, because they would distribute land evenly.
    She was ignored by Indian tribes when warning about the dangers of the mythical 'Ghost Dance' driving the government to more violence.
    She allegedly avoided rape by jumping up and punching her attacker in the face.
    During the Bannock War, she rode over two hundred miles to rescue her father and his warriors from captivity.
    ‘Life Among the Paiutes’ is a searing indictment of American hypocrisy towards the Indians.
    She is one of only two historical figures to represent Nevada with a statue in the National Statuary Hall Collection at the U.S. Capitol.

Credit: BoyWiththeGreenHair


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 7 Votes: 42.86% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 4 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 5 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 10 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 15 Votes: 53.33% Annoying