Mary Bonney

Life & Legacy

Mary Lucinda Bonney (after marriage, Mary Lucinda Bonney Rambaut; June 8, 1816 – July 24, 1900) born in Hamilton, New York, was a 19th-century American educator and advocate for Native American rights. She is considered to be the most important woman in the Native American movement to protect their tribal lands. She was also involved in the early movement to provide for girls' education. With fellow teacher Harriette A. Dillaye, in 1850 she founded a female seminary in Philadelphia. It became known as the Ogontz School for Young Ladies after it moved to a suburban estate of that name. After a second move, the last campus was developed after 1950 as Penn State Abington.
In collaboration with Amelia Stone Quinton, Bonney founded the Women's National Indian Association, which worked initially to defend Native American land rights against settler encroachment. They eventually supported assimilation of Native Americans to the majority culture, including support for the Dawes Act of 1887. This proposed allotment of lands in Indian Territory to individual Indian households, the end of tribal governments, and support for the tribes to take up subsistence farming.