Full Description
Ramona has often been compared to Uncle Tom's Cabin for its influence on American social policy, and this is the only edition available that presents this important novel in its full historical context. A huge popular and critical success when it was first published in 1884, Ramona is set among the California Spanish missions and tells the story of the young mixed-blood heroine, Ramona, and her Native American lover Alessandro, as they flee from the brutal violence of white settlers.
This Broadview edition re-examines the novel's legacy by placing it alongside public speeches, letters, and newspaper articles that promoted what was ultimately a damaging campaign by reformers to "assimilate" Native American peoples. Selections from Jackson's non-fiction writings call into question the link between assimilationist policies and the story told in Ramona; also included are the writings and testimonies of some of Jackson's Native American contemporaries, as well as a selection of travel essays and images that helped to create "the Ramona myth."
Contents
Acknowledgements
Foreward (by Phil Brigandi)
Introduction
Helen Hunt Jackson: A Brief Chronology
A Note on the Text
Ramona
Appendix A: Public Opinion on Allotment and Assimilation
From Massachusetts Senator Henry L. Dawes, "Solving the Indian Problem" (1883)
From Richard Henry Pratt, "The Advantages of Mingling Indians with Whites" (1892)
From United States Congress, Committee on Indian Affairs, Minority Report on Land in Severalty Bill (1880)
"In the Way," New York Times (24 December 1879)
"The Indian Severalty Law," New York Times (27 May 1887)
Appendix B: Selected Indian Non-Fiction by Helen Hunt Jackson
Letter to the Editor, New York Tribune (23 December 1879)
Letter to the Editor, New York Tribune (26 December 1879)
Letter to the Editor, New York Tribune (31 January 1879)
From the Report on the Condition and Needs of the Mission Indians of California (1883)
Appendix C: Women in Indian Reform
Alice Cunningham Fletcher, letter to Harriet Hawley (6 January 1884)
From The Women's National Indian Association, Sunshine Work (1894)
From Anna R. Dawson (Arikara), Report from the Fort Berthold Reservation (1900)
Appendix D: Contemporary Native American Voices
From Thomas Wildcat Alford, Civilization and the Story of the Absentee Shawnees (1936)
Francis LaFlesche (Omaha), "An Indian Allotment" (1900)
From Suzette LaFlesche (Omaha), Preface to William Justin Harsha, Ploughed Under (1881)
From S. Alice Callahan (Muscogee), Wynema: A Child of the Forest (1891)
Pleasant Porter (Muscogee), "What Is Best for the Indian" (1902)
From Zitkala-Sa (Dakota), "Lost Treaties of the California Indians" (1922)
From Alfred C. Gillis (Wintun), "The California Indians" (1924)
Lone Wolf (Kiowa) et al.,Testimony before the Jerome Commission (1899)
Appendix E: Contemporary Reviews of and Responses to Ramona
From The Los Angeles Times (13 January 1885)
From The Nation (29 January 1885)
From Elaine Goodale, The Southern Workman (February 1885)
From Elizabeth B. Custer, The Boston Evening Transcript (14 May 1887)
José Martí, "'Ramona' de Helen Hunt Jackson" (1887)
From George Wharton James, Through Ramona's Country (1909)
Appendix F: A Portfolio of Ramona Cultural Images
Map of Ramona's Homeland
Rancho Camulos, South Veranda
The Altar at Rancho Camulos
Mission San Luis Rey (1910)
Mission Capistrano (1915)
Henry Sandham, illustration of Ramona
Henry Sandham, illustration of Alessandro's Murder
Ramona Lubo at her Husband's Grave
Ramona Lubo at George Wharton James's Graphophone
1908 Meeting of the Mission Indian Conference
Ramona's Marriage Place (1920s)
The Ramona Pageant (c. 1930)
Works Cited and Recommended Reading
