Sarah Winnemucca

Winnemucca, Sarah, or Thoc-me-tony (“Shell Flower”; 1844?–91), U.S. advocate for Native American rights. A member of the Paiute tribe in the Nevada area, she worked as a guide and interpreter. In 1870 she began speaking out against abuses of the Paiute, and in 1880 met with President Rutherford B. Hayes to plead on behalf of the tribe. She then became a writer (Life Among the Paiutes: Their Claims and Wrongs, 1883) and lecturer, and founded 2 schools for Native American children.