Winnemucca statue to make history

Rebecca Malone

Thursday, June 21, 2001 | 11:26 a.m.

Nevada's second statue in the U.S. Capitol could be a first in the nation.

Sarah Winnemucca was chosen as the state's second for the National Statuary Hall when Assembly Bill 267 was signed by Gov. Kenny Guinn earlier this month, authorizing a committee to oversee its creation.

"This woman was exceptional," Carrie Porter, committee co-chairwoman for the statue project, said. "This was a Native American woman doing things that even Caucasian women weren't doing. She was the first public woman and is one of three that is widely known of Native American women, next to Pocahontas and Sacagawea."

The choice of Winnemucca comes as 80 members of the House of Representatives push to include a statue of a minority woman in the Capitol Rotunda.

Of the 109 statues throughout the Capitol, only a handful are women, and none is a minority woman.

"Symbols are important," said Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., among 83 representatives co-sponsoring congressional legislation. "Having a monument honoring minority women really matters in America."

Nevada placed its first statue, of former Sen. Patrick McCarran, in 1960. He was chosen for his dedication in law and government. Only New Mexico and North Dakota still have one statue in the National Statuary Hall. Each state is allowed two.

Winnemucca was born in 1844 near the Humboldt River and was the daughter of Chief Winnemucca and granddaughter of Chief Truckee of the Northern Paiute Tribe, which led John C. Fremont across the Great Basin to California.

Her grandfather encouraged her to learn all she could from her "white brothers." Before she was 14 she was proficient in English, Spanish and three Indian languages.

She served as an interpreter for the U.S. Army and the Bureau of Indian Affairs and aided the Army in the Bannock War in Idaho in 1878, during which time she saved the life of her father and other tribesmen.

In 1880 Winnemucca visited Washington, where she spoke to President Rutherford B. Hayes about the rights of Native Americans. She also opened a school for American Indian children near Lovelock and was the first Indian woman to publish a book, "Life Among the Paiutes: Their Wrongs and Claims."

"She was definitely a pioneer in a number of ways," state archivist Guy Rocha said. "Nevada will make a very positive statement to the nation about who it honors with their contribution. In my book she is a hero. Children should read about her."

"She was a truly remarkable woman," said Sally Zanjani, who wrote a biography about her. "The transition she made from the Stone Age, really, to 19th century America was amazing. What most impressed me about Sarah was her tremendous courage. She would take on anything."

Porter hopes that once Winnemucca is added to the National Statuary Hall, teachers will include her story in their history lessons.

Rocha for years has lobbied for Winnemucca to be depicted in a statue.

"For me, she was speaking to human rights, and one of my personal interests is protecting human rights," Rocha said. "Focusing on how we treat each other as human beings every day -- in the past, today and in the future."

Winnemucca will be the seventh woman depicted in the hall.

Guinn's signature created the committee composed of six people to choose an artist and approve the design for Winnemucca's depiction.

The Nevada Women's History Project has taken on the job of raising the needed $100,000 to create the statue. The nonprofit group raised about $6,500 toward the project before the bill was passed.

The House legislation would direct a three-member advisory committee to pick "an appropriate representative" from black, Latino, Asian, Jewish and American Indian women for a minority woman to be placed in the Capitol Rotunda. Nominees would be solicited from the public.

The Associated Press

contributed to this report.