Helen Hunt Jackson

Born in Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1830 as Helen Maria Fiske, she grew up in an educated New England family and later became a friend and correspondent of Emily Dickinson. Writing under the name Helen Hunt Jackson and sometimes the initials H.H., she built a reputation as a poet, essayist, and novelist.

After the deaths of her first husband and both of her sons, she turned seriously to writing and published widely. Over time, her work expanded from poetry and travel writing to sharp social criticism, and she became one of the best-known American women writers of her day.

Jackson is especially remembered for her advocacy on behalf of Native Americans. Her nonfiction book A Century of Dishonor challenged U.S. government policy, and her novel Ramona used fiction to reach a broader audience with the same concerns. She died in 1885, but her writing still stands out for its energy, sympathy, and moral urgency.