Zitkála-Šá

Zitkála-Šá

"Red Bird" "Gertrude Simmons Bonnin"

biography

"A Walk in Two Worlds"

"Red Bird Sings"

Biography

• Zitkála-Šá was born on the Yankton Sioux Reservation in South Dakota.
• She was a writer, activist, musician, and teacher.
• At the age of 8 she was sent to a Quaker boarding school, where she was forced to cut her hair and give up her Native American culture.

• At this school she was given the name Gertrude Simmons.
• She learned to read, write, and play violin.
• In 1899 she became the music teacher for the Carlisle Indian Industrial School. This was a flagship boarding school for the assimilation of Native American children.
• She was eventually fired for writing about students who lost their heritage because of the school.
• She collected and published Native American legends and stories in order to share and preserve Indigenous oral traditions.
• Helped Native Americans get voting rights.
• Co-Composed the first Native American written Opera "The Sun Dance."
• Featured on the U.S. quarter in 2020.

Born 1876 Died 1938

"A Walk in Two Worlds"

"Red Bird Sings"