The Extraordinary Life of Zitkala-Ša

I just posted this article on my history blog, History Undusted; it’s a true story worth repeating: Zitkala-Sa’s life is the stuff of legends, with enough interesting facts and circumstances to inspire the writer in you and spark stories in their own right.

Zitkala-Ša quote

History Undusted

What makes this person worthy of notice is not simply the accomplishments of their life as a writer, author, musician, composer, editor, teacher, and successful political activist, as well as having the honours of both being buried in the Arlington National Cemetery and having a Venusian crater named in their honour (Bonnin), but the fact that this person was a Native American woman born in a time when American indigenous peoples were still being trampled down, forced into assimilation, ignored, exploited and abused by the insurgents to their lands – the palefaces – and a time when even white women in general had no say in public life.

Born in 1876 as Zitkala-Ša (Sioux for Red Bird) in South Dakota, before the age of seven her family and tribe were driven by white men from their lands “like a herd of buffalo”; her uncle and younger sister (among many…

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2 responses to “The Extraordinary Life of Zitkala-Ša

  1. I ordered this for my Kindle.

  2. Which book? Amazingly (though I’d never heard of her until recently), there are quite a few books attached to her!

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