American Indian Stories, Legends, and Other Writings

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Penguin, Feb 25, 2003 - Literary Collections - 320 pages
A 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.
 

Selected pages

Contents

Introduction
xi
Suggestions for Further Reading
xxxvii
Chronology
xli
A Note on the Texts
xlv
OLD INDIAN LEGENDS
1
Preface
5
Iktomi and the Ducks
7
Iktomis Blanket
13
JanuaryMarch 1916
164
OctoberDecember 1916
168
JanuaryMarch 1917
173
JulySeptember 1917
175
OctoberDecember 1917
179
JulySeptember 1918
181
JulySeptember 1918
184
JulySeptember 1918
187

Iktomi and the Muskrat
16
Iktomi and the Coyote
19
Iktomi and the Fawn
22
The Badger and the Bear
27
The TreeBound
33
Shooting of the Red Eagle
39
Iktomi and the Turtle
42
Dance in a Buffalo Skull
45
The Toad and the Boy
47
Iya the CampEater
51
Manstin the Rabbit
56
The Warlike Seven
61
AMERICAN INDIAN STORIES
65
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 SoftHearted Sioux
118
The Trial Path
127
A Warriors Daughter
132
A Dream of Her Grandfather
141
The Widespread Enigma Concerning BlueStar Woman
143
Americas Indian Problem
155
SELECTIONS FROM AMERICAN INDIAN MAGAZINE
161
Winter 1919
191
Winter 1919
193
Winter 1919
196
Winter 1919
199
Spring 1919
201
Summer 1919
207
Spring 1919
212
Summer 1919
213
POETRY PAMPHLETS ESSAYS AND SPEECHES
219
March 1896
222
January 1897
227
November 1898
234
August 1902
235
ca 1916
239
1921
242
1921
245
1922
247
1922
250
1922
254
1921
258
1922
260
Explanatory Notes
263
Copyright

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About the author (2003)

Zitkala-Sa (1876–1938) was born Gertrude Simmons at the Yankton Reservation in South Dakota. Writer, teacher, and activist, she was editor of American Indian Magazine and founder of the National Council of American Indians, the tribal advocacy group that she led until her death.

 


Cathy N. Davidson teaches English at Duke University, where she is Vice Provost for Interdisciplinary Studies.

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