American Indian Stories

By Zitkála-Šá and Gertrude Simmons Bonnin

Book Overview

"American Indian Stories" by Zitkala-Sa offers a powerful autobiographical account of a Yankton Sioux woman's experiences during a tumultuous period of Native American history. This seminal work explores Zitkala-Sa's personal journey through assimilation and the complex challenges faced by Native Americans in the late 19th century.

Her narrative vividly recounts her time in Indian boarding schools, shedding light on the government's policies and their impact on Native American culture and identity. Zitkala-Sa's reflections provide valuable insight into the Yankton Sioux perspective on government relations and the broader struggle for cultural preservation.

A vital contribution to both biography and indigenous studies, "American Indian Stories" remains a compelling and important testament to the resilience and enduring spirit of Native Americans. This meticulously prepared print edition makes Zitkala-Sa's timeless story accessible to all who seek to understand a crucial chapter in United States history.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.

This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.

Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1023018195
• ISBN13: 9781023018197
• Release Date: March 2025
• Publisher: Anson Street Press
• Length: 98 Pages
• Weight: 0.33 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

American Indian Stories

Wonderful book; fascinating stories; important for women and men. Especially important for the significance of minority women writers.

Beautiful story of the human spirit and culture preservation

I have never read any Native American literature before but, I had to read these stories for a Literature class and I thoroughly enjoyed them. I would recommend this reading to anyone who is somewhat interested in the history of Native America or who is interest in great story telling. The stories are so visual and Zitkala Sa takes the reader through her childhood memories with passion, emotion, depth and sincerity. Her stories shed light on what happened in that era for those who aren't as familiar with the history of Native Americans. Her experience compels us as humans to take a closer look at our actions and strive to preserve the beauty and differences of all cultures not just of the Native American. Zitkala Sa emerges from her tragic experiences and her loss of culture and spirit to become one of the most notable Native American Activists fighting for the rights of her people and stressing the importance cultural preservation. All these short stories are beautiful and moving.

"A living mosaic of human beings."

Zitkala-Sa (Gertrude Bonnin) collected her autobiographical narratives from the Atlantic Monthly (1900-1902), and some fictional folktales, in this 1921 book. Obscure and out of print for decades, it was rediscovered in the 1970s and in 1985 was issued in this facsimile of the first edition, with a helpful forward by Dexter Fisher. It's tempting to call Zitkala-Sa the Native American Zora Neale Hurston, but Zitkala-Sa is too original to be seen as a version of anyone else. The story of her upbringing, and the deceptive luring of her to a missionary-sponsored school in the east, where she found herself held down as her hair was cut (a scene that reads with the intensity of a rape), is riveting and heartrending. Although bitter about her experiences, she achieved a full education in English, expertise on the violin (she performed in Paris), and finally the presidency of the National Council of American Indians, which successfully promoted a law making Native Americans citizens of the United States. The book as a whole reflects her empowerment, but also speaks eloquently in a conquering culture's language of what it is to have no power over your destiny or selfhood. Her integration of several competing selves led her to write this, in "The Great Spirit": "The racial lines, which once were bitterly real, now serve nothing more than marking out a living mosaic of human beings." I for one feel richer for having read this book, and knowing the story of an American hero in her own words. Very highly recommended to all.