The nineteenth century saw American writers increasingly turn their attention to the social and political consequences of westward expansion, producing literature that documented the human costs of federal policy. Helen Hunt Jackson, born on October 15, 1830, emerged from this period as a writer, novelist, poet, and journalist whose work engaged directly with the treatment of Native Americans by the United States government.

Jackson became an activist for improved treatment of Native Americans by the United States government, and that commitment shaped the most consequential works of her career. Her nonfiction work A Century of Dishonor, published in 1881, described the adverse effects of government actions on Native American peoples. The book marked a shift in her output toward sustained, documented argument rather than purely imaginative writing, positioning her as a voice addressing federal policy through the written word.

Her novel Ramona, published in 1884, extended that concern into fiction. The novel dramatized the federal government's mistreatment of Native Americans in Southern California in the period following the Mexican–American War, rendering the subject in narrative form for a broad readership. Ramona proved to be one of the most widely circulated works of its era: it was estimated to have been reprinted three hundred times. The novel also produced a notable cultural aftereffect, as it attracted many tourists to Southern California who wished to visit locations associated with the story. Jackson wrote in the English language throughout her career as a United States citizen, and her work as novelist, journalist, and poet placed her across multiple literary forms during the decades she was active.

Jackson died in San Francisco, with the two dates recorded in surviving sources placing her death in either August or September of 1885. Her career, spanning poetry, journalism, and fiction, included the distinction of being inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame. The reach of Ramona — measured in its hundreds of reprintings and its documented effect on tourism to Southern California — stands as one of the more concrete indicators of the reception her work received during and after her lifetime.