Feminist to Know: Zitkála-Šá

 
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Zitkála-Šá (aka Red Bird) was a prominent Dakota/Yankton Sioux writer, activist, editor, teacher, and musician in the late 19th and early 20th century. Much of Zitkála-Šá’s writing and activism is focused on the violent assimilation conditions that settlers imposed on Native Americans. Zitkála-Šá published her book American Indian Stories in 1921; it remains a critical 20th century feminist text covering Native identity, settler institutions, gender, and intergenerational struggle. In 1926, she co-founded and served as president of the National Council of American Indians.

Zitkála-Šá is credited with both being an early American Indian Reformer as well as bridging Native oral storytelling with contemporary Native literature. Her written work remains with us as a tangible testament to her life’s work while her political advocacy stays with us today in the feminist changes she wrought.

“I cried aloud, shaking my head all the while until I felt the cold blades of the scissors against my neck, and heard them gnaw off one of my thick braids. Then I lost my spirit.” (from American Indian Stories)

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