Red Bird Fighting for Sioux People

Red bird

Zitkala-Ša Yankton, or Anglicized married name Gertrude Simmons Bonnin Dakota, 1876–1938, was a writer, political activist, educator, translator, and musician. She wrote about her identity struggles as she tried to live in two cultures while being educated in both. Her writings were among the first to bring traditional Native American stories to a widespread audience.

“On the following morning, I took my revenge upon the devil. Stealing into the room where a wall of shelves was filled with books, I drew forth The Stories of the Bible. With a broken slate pencil I carried in my apron pocket, I began scratching out his wicked eyes. A few moments later, when I was ready to leave the room, there was a ragged hole in the page where the picture of the devil had once been.”

― Zitkála-Šá, Red Bird from American Indian Stories