KLAS-TV Channel 8 News Las VegasDesign for Winnemucca Statue Decided
Design by art student Benjamin Victor(Feb. 20) -- Artwork designed by a South Dakota student will be used to represent Nevada at the U.S. Capitol. A replica of Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins, designed by art student Benjamin Victor, was selected from a group of four, to be placed in the U.S. Capitol's Statuary Hall.
Winnamucca (1844-1891), a Northern Paiute, was an activist for Native American issues during the 1800s. The statue shows Winnamucca holding a book in her left hand while offering her namesake Shell Flower as a token of peace with her right.
The statue will join Nevada's other statue of the late U.S. Senator Pat McCarran, next year.
According to the Department of Conservation & Natural Resources: Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins' Nevada Historical Marker 143 is located in the Black Rock Desert region, Humboldt County, Nevada on the McDermitt Indian Reservation, which is 8 miles from US-95.
The northern Paiute name Thocmetony (Shell-Flower) was bestowed on this valiant daughter of Chief Winnemucca and grandchild of the redoubtable Captain Truckee, a friend and supporter of General John C. Fremont. Sarah sought understanding between her people and whites when the latter trekked across and settled on Indian homelands. By lecturing, by writing a book (presumably the first in English by an Indian woman) and by founding a non-government school for Indian children, she worked tirelessly to remedy injustice and to advocate peace. Here at Fort McDermitt as interpreter and teacher she served well both Indians and the U.S. military. This exceptional Indian woman, a leader of her race, believed in the brotherhood of mankind.
