1800s, Girls & Women, Historical, Multicultural, Women, Native North & South Americans 

By the late 1700s, the United States was growing into a nation of homesteaders, politicians, mountain men, and American dreams. Life on the frontier was frequently filled with danger and difficulties. The people who wove their way into American history overcame these challenges with a courage and conviction that defined an era and shaped a nation.

Born into the Northern Paiute tribe, during Sarah Winnemucca scouted during wartime and became a writer and spokesperson for her people. On the Paiutes' behalf, she met with the president and lectured about her people's needs and way of life. She wrote a book about the Paiutes in 1883, and later opened an unusual school for Native American children. Sarah Winnemucca's personal strengths created a legacy that some Northern Paiutes scorned, but which ultimately benefited her people.