Ramona by Helen Hunt Jackson

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Three years before the publication of the novel titled "Ramona", Helen Hunt Jackson published “A Century of Dishonor: The Classic Exposé of the Plight of Native Americans”.  Both publications describe the displacement of of Native Americans from the land that they have inhabited for the last 10 to 15 thousand years.

The author referred  to these indigenous peoples  as “Indians”, the name that was supposed

to have been mistakenly given by Christopher Columbus to the first first people  he saw when he  sailed into what became the Americans continents. He thought he was in India. Oh by the way, did you know that Columbus never set foot in   North America, much less to its southern part like Mexico?

California became a US territory in 1847 as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo  which ended the Mexican-American War. Ramona, Helen Hunt Jackson second book was set on an era where Mexicans of Spanish ancestry were downsizing their ranchos and conceding portions of their lands to land grants as stipulated in a US Congress act. Set in a Spanish era California amidst Catholic missions run by Spanish friars and ranches owned by criollos, the novel depicts a more functional  relationship between  criollos and  Native Americans. Throughout the novel, the author aptly described the prejudices first by  Mexicans of Spanish ancestry then by white men (Europeans) against indigenous  Americans. The novel Ramona is more of an idyllic re-enactment of the prior book. The novel revolves around the story of Ramona, the daughter of a Scottish sailor and a Native American woman referred to in the novel as a “squaw” who were married by a priest in the San Gabriel Missions. The Gabrielino Indians are believed to have been from the Tongva tribes.

Helen Hunt Jackson's initial publication is a documentation of how the indigenous population was treated in the 1850's.  This was the time when Mexicans  born in Spain and living in Mexico were called "peninsulares" and all other Mexicans of Spanish ancestry were called "criollos".  The Olmecs, the first known inhabitants of Mexico along with the Teotihuacans, the Aztecs, the Yaquis, the Kumeyaays and the Ipais among other tribes were called "Indians". According to the 2010 US Census, California has the highest Native American population in the country.There are currently 109 federally recognized tribes in California alone. To this day,  40 to 50 percent  of  the  Mexican population still identify themselves to their indigenous tribes while many trace their ancestry  origins to  Iberia or Portugal.

Helen Hunt Jackson's protagonist in her second book is Ramona.  Ramona is raised by Senora Gonzaga-Moreno, the sister of her foster mother, her Scottish father's former fiancee whom she is named after. Senora Moreno raises Ramona as part of the Moreno family and foster sister to the senora's only child, Felipe. Native Americans are contracted by the Moreno household as laborers and during a sheep-searing season, Ramona meets Alessandro, a chieftain's son  from Temecula who is designated to be the foreman of the sheep-searing team after one of the Moreno household staff gets incapacitated.

Ramona falls in love with Alessandro. Senora Moreno confronts Ramona and threatens to deny her of the valuables her Scottish father left her. Ramona elopes with Alessandro with the help of Felipe and taking along Baba, her horse and Capitan, a dog. Ramona and Alessandro is married by a priest from the San Diego missions. The couple goes to San Pascual Valley  and eventually gets displaced by European-Americans who drive them off their homesteads. The couple moves to the San Jacinto mountains and loses their daughter when a white doctor refuses to treat her because the couple are not his "Indians".  Alessandro  who  loses his mind (likely due to  PTSD) one day rides off with a white man's horse and the white man follows and murders him.

Meanwhile, Senora Moreno dies and Felipe sets off to look for Ramona and Alesandro. Felipe one day recognizes Baba, Ramona's horse. Felipe is led to a Cahuilla village by a white woman (Aunt Ri') and his son. Ramona who gives birth to another daughter gets deathly ill and a Cahuilla village woman nurses her infant daughter while Aunt Ri' works her health remedies to get Ramona well. Felipe lets Ramona stay with Aunt Ri' a little longer to recuperate and be doted on by Aunt Ri' like a daughter. Felipe brings home Ramona and her infant daughter who is also named Ramona. Felipe eventually marries Ramona and adopts baby Ramona. Felipe and Ramona have several sons and daughters together but their favorite is Ramona. The family moves south  to Mexico where they live happily ever after.