Helen Hunt Jackson (1830-85) was an author and reformer who supported the
rights of Native Americans.  She circulated tracts, petitions, and letters
to newspapers, gave nationwide lecture tours, and hounded public
officials, once even challenging Theodore Roosevelt to a discussion of the
Indians' situation in America.  One of her most famous books on behalf of
the Indians was A Century of Dishonor, written in 1881.  It caused such an
uproar that Jackson was appointed a special commissioner by the Department
of Interior to investigate the conditions of the Indians in California.
She used her experiences there as the background for her novel. Ramona
(1884), about the star-crossed Indian lovers Ramona and Alessandro. 
Although not entirely accurate, the book helped publicize Indian rights
issues and is ranked with Uncle Tom's Cabin as an important example of
reformist literature.