American Indian Stories by
American Indian Stories, first published in 1921, is a collection of childhood stories, allegorical fiction, and an essay. One of the most famous Sioux writers and activists of the modern era, Zitkala-Sa (Gertrude Bonnin) recalled legends and tales from oral tradition and used experiences from her life and community to educate others about the Yankton Sioux. Determined, controversial, and visionary, she creatively worked to bridge the gap between her own culture and mainstream American society and advocated for Native rights on a national level. Susan Rose Dominguez provides a new introduction to this edition.
Dance in a Buffalo Skull by
A prowling wildcat finds a surprise in an old dried-up buffalo skull. A group of mice are dancing the night away and not paying attention to the dagers around them. Does the wildcat spell doom for the mice, or will they escape to safety? Dance in a Buffalo Skull is an American Indain tale of danger and survival on the Great Plains.
Dreams and Thunder by
Zitkala-Sa (Red Bird) (1876-1938), also known as Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, was one of the best-known and most influential Native Americans of the twentieth century. Born on the Yankton Sioux Reservation, she remained true to her indigenous heritage as a student at the Boston Conservatory and a teacher at the Carlisle Indian School, as an activist in turn attacking the Carlisle School, as an artist celebrating Native stories and myths, and as an active member of the Society of American Indians in Washington DC. All these currents of Zitkala-Sa's rich life come together in this book, which presents her previously unpublished stories, rare poems, and the libretto of The Sun Dance Opera.
Help Indians Help Themselves by
Zitkala-sa, also known as Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, was born on the Yankton Sioux reservation in 1876 and went on to become one of the most influential American Indian writer/activists of the twentieth century. Help Indians Help Themselves: The Later Writings of Gertrude Simmons Bonnin (Zitkala-sa) is a critical collection of primary documents written by Bonnin who was principally known for the memoir of her boarding school experience, Help Indians Help Themselves expands the published work of Zitkala-sa, adding insight to a life of writing and political activism on behalf of American Indians in the early twentieth century. Edited by P. Jane Hafen, Help Indians Help Themselves documents Bonnin's passion for justice in Indian America and outlines the broad scope of her life's work. In the American Indian Magazine, the publication of the Society of American Indians, and through her work for the National Council of American Indians, Bonnin developed her emphasis, as Hafen writes, on "resistance, tribal nationalism, land rights and call for civil rights." Help Indians Help Themselves also brings to light Bonnin's letters, speeches, and congressional testimony, which coincide with important developments of the relationship between American Indians and the U.S. federal government. Legislation such as the Citizenship Act of 1924, the Meriam Report of 1928, and the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 is reflected through the work collected in Help Indians Help Themselves. In these writings, in newsletters, and in voluminous correspondence, most of which have never before been published, Bonnin advocates tirelessly for the Indian Cause.
Old Indian Legends by
A collection of Sioux stories retold by the Yankton Dakota writer Zitkala-Sa and published in 1901.
Zitkala-Ša: Letters, Speeches, and Unpublished Writings, 1898-1929 by
Zitkala-Sa: Letters, Speeches, and Unpublished Writings, 1898-1929, edited by Tadeusz Lewandowski, offers a fascinating, intimate portrait of the Yankton Sioux writer and activist Gertrude Simmons Bonnin (1876-1938). Gertrude Bonnin, better known by her Lakota name, Zitkala-Sa, was one of the most prominent American Indians of the early 20th century. A talented writer, orator, and musician, she devoted much of her life to the protection of Native peoples. As such, Bonnin corresponded with many other distinguished persons within the early Native rights movement, including Carlos Montezuma, Richard Henry Pratt, and Arthur C. Parker, as well as Fathers Martin Kenel and William H. Ketcham of the Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions. This volume gathers together Bonnin's letters, lesser-known writings and speeches, illuminating her private and public struggles.
Red Bird Sings: The Story of Zitkala-Ša, Native American Author, Musician, and Activist by
Like Montezuma (A Boy Named Beckoning), Zitkala-Sa is an important figure in Native American history about whom nothing has been written for children.This is a picture book biography of Zitkala-Sa, born Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, a Native American woman at the turn of the nineteenth century. Zitkala-Sa was a writer, editor, musician, teacher, and political activist in a time when even basic education was uncommon among Native Americans.
The Flight of Red Bird by
Chronicles, through her own reminiscences, letters, speeches, and stories, the experiences of the Yankton Indian woman whose life spanned the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century.
Carlos Montezuma, M. D. , a Yavapai American Hero by