Zitkala-sa, "Red Bird,"a Yankton Sioux reformer and writer
was one of a number of White-educated Indians who fought to obtain fairer
treatment for her people by the federal government. She was born on
February 22, 1875, the daughter of John Haysting Simmons and Ellen Tate'Iyohiwin,
"Reaches for the Wind." Educated on the reservation until
the age of 8, she was sent to White's Institute, a Quaker school in
Wabash, Indiana. At the age of 19, against her family's wishes, she
enrolled at Earlham College, in Richmond, where she won an oratorical
contest, then graduated to become a teacher at the Carlisle Indian School
in Pennsylvania.
She wanted to become a professional writer but was also interested
in music. In following this latter interest, she studied at the Boston
Conservatory and went to Paris in 1900 as a chaperone and leader with
the Carlisle Band. She became an excellent violinist and enjoyed playing
the instrument as a hobby. She also composed an Indian opera based upon
the Plains Sun Dance. Harper's published tow of her stories at the turn
of the century, and three of her autobiographical essays appeared in
the Atlantic Monthly. In 1901, her first book, Old Indian Legends, appeared
and received a cordial reception.
By this time, Zitkala-sa was back on the reservation, where in 1902
she married a Sioux employee of the U.S. Indian Service, Raymond T.
Bonnin; they had one male child. That same year the couple moved to
the Uintah and Ouray Reservation in Utah, where they lived for the next
14 years, and where she worked as a teacher for the Indian Service.
In 1911 she became active in the Society of American Indians, an organization
of educated Native Americans dedicated to the improvement of the conditions
of their people. The group was basically interested in the integration
and assimilation of the Indian, favoring equal rights for all people,
and strongly opposed to the continuance of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
In 1916, when she was the society's secretary, the Bonnins moved to
Washington, D.C. She lobbied for her people among the vari0us officials
in the Capitol, and also helped persuade the General Federation of Women's
Clubs to take an active interest in Indian welfare. Roberta Campbell
Lawson, a part-Delaware woman from Oklahoma was also prominent in the
club's hierarchy at this time, and the two women worked together closely.
Under pressure from the Women's Clubs and others, the federal government
agreed to the appointment of a commission to investigate the Indian
situation. In 1928, this group, of which Gertrude Bonnin was an advisor,
turned in its noted Report, under the supervision of Lewis Meriam. The
following year President Hoover appointed two Indian Rights Association
leaders to head the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and President Franklin
Roosevelt's New Deal Administration took even more significant steps
to reform United States Indian policy.
In 1926, Zitkala-sa founded the Council of American Indians, and continued
to work tirelessly for the rights and welfare of Indians until her death
in Washington January 25, 1938 at the age of 61. She was buried in Arlington
Cemetery.
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AMERICAN RHYMES 
