American Indian Stories, Legends, and Other WritingsA thought-provoking collection of searing prose from a Dakota Sioux woman that covers race, identity, assimilation, and perceptions of Native American culture Zitkala-Sa (also known as Gertrude Simmons Bonnin) wrestled with the conflicting influences of American Indian and white culture throughout her life. Raised on a Sioux reservation, she was educated at boarding schools that enforced assimilation and was witness to major events in white-Indian relations in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Tapping her troubled personal history, Zitkala-Sa created stories that illuminate the tragedy and complexity of the American Indian experience. In evocative prose laced with political savvy, she forces new thinking about the perceptions, assumptions, and customs of both Sioux and white cultures and raises issues of assimilation, identity, and race relations that remain compelling today. |
Contents
Preface | 5 |
Iktomis Blanket | 13 |
Iktomi and the Coyote | 19 |
The Badger and the Bear | 27 |
The TreeBound | 33 |
Shooting of the Red Eagle | 39 |
Dance in a Buffalo Skull | 45 |
Iya the CampEater | 51 |
III | 161 |
A Years Experience in Community Service Work | 168 |
Chipeta Widow of Chief Ouray with a Word About | 175 |
Editorial Comment JulySeptember 1918 | 181 |
Secretarys Report in Brief JulySeptember 1918 | 187 |
America Home of the Red Man Winter 1919 | 193 |
Letter to the Chiefs and Headmen of the Tribes | 199 |
Editorial Comment Summer 1919 | 207 |
The Warlike Seven | 61 |
Impressions of an Indian Childhood | 68 |
The School Days of an Indian Girl | 87 |
An Indian Teacher Among Indians | 104 |
The Great Spirit | 114 |
The Trial Path | 127 |
A Dream of Her Grandfather | 141 |
Americas Indian Problem | 155 |
Address by the SecretaryTreasurer Society of American | 213 |
Side by Side March 1896 | 226 |
Iris of Life November 1898 | 234 |
Americanize the First American 1921 | 242 |
California Indian Trails and Prayer Trees 1922 | 250 |
The California Indians of Today 1922 | 258 |
Explanatory Notes | 265 |
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Common terms and phrases
American Indian Stories Atlantic Monthly avenger baby badger beaded bird blanket Blue-Star Woman brave brother brown buckskin California Indian Carlisle Chief Ouray Chief Powhatan chieftain child Chipeta cried Dakota daughter Dawée ducks dwelling Earlham College earth eyes face fat ducks father feet fire gone grandfather grass hair hand head hear heard heart hills Iktomi Indian Bureau Indian Girl Judéwin land laughed legends living looked magic arrow Manstin meat moccasins mother muskrat Native American night Old Indian paleface Patkasa peyote pony prairie race red eagle reservation river shoulders Sioux Sitting Sitting Bull Society of American spirit stood strong Sun Dance talk tall teepee tell tepee treaties tree tribal tribe turned village voice warrior Washington watched white man's wigwam wild willow winter women words young young avenger Zitkala-Ša