Zitkala-Sha (or Sa), meaning Red Bird, was born Gertrude Simmons the daughter of a white man and Indian woman from the Dakota tribe. She attended White's Manual Labor Institute in Indiana as a child and then the Santee Normal Training School before entering Earlham College in Indiana. An accomplished violinist, she studied at the Boston Music Conservatory on a scholarship and, in 1913, collaborated with William Hanson on the only opera, Sun Dance, ever written by a Native American. She adopted her pen-name in 1900 and wrote many critical works concerning the Indian schools and the exploitation of Native Americans. She was elected secretary of the Society of American Indians in 1916 and became the editor of American Indian Magazine. She married a captain in the army, Bonnin, and travelled a great deal throughout America. Throughout her life, she was a tireless campaigner for Indian rights and was instrumental in the founding of the National Counsel of American Indians. Indeed, the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 was a direct product of her work, Oklahoma's Poor Rich Indians (1924). Her other important works include Old Indian Legends (1901), Impressions of an Indian Childhood (1900), The Trial Path (1901) and Why I Am a Pagan (1901). Zitkala-Sa is buried in Arlington Cemetary. |
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