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Zitkála-úá is known for 
being the first Native 
person to write an

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opera. She was a 
prolific writer,

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and very involved in getting 
Native people citizenship.

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1900, Washington, D.C. 
24-year-old Zitkála-úá,

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also known as Gertrude 
Simmons Bonnin,

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performed at the White House 
for President William McKinley.

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She was trained at the New 
England Conservatory of Music,

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and so she had a lot 
of choices that a lot 
of Native women at that

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time didn't have.

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She was musically gifted.

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People were fascinated with her 
because she was a performer,

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because she was articulate.

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"I seem to be in a 
spiritual unrest.

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I hate this eternal tug of 
war between being 'wild' 
or becoming 'civilized'...

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I am what I am. I owe no 
apologies to God or men.".

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Gertrude Simmons Bonnin,

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was born in 1876 on the Yankton 
Reservation in South Dakota,

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to the Ihanktonwan 
Nation. She later renamed 
herself, Zitkála-úá,

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meaning 'Red Bird' in 
the Lakota language.

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I don't think anything 
is known about her father 
except that he was a

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non-Indian, but her mother 
raised her up as an Indian girl,

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and she saw herself 
as an Indian.

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"I was a wild little 
girl, with a pair of soft 
moccasins on my feet.

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As free as the wind 
that blew my hair,

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and no less spirited 
than a bounding deer.".

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The Yankton Sioux made 
a treaty with the United 
States in the mid 1850s.

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They made peace early on 
and they were not caught up 
in the major conflicts that

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the other Sioux tribes had 
with the United States.

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There were 60 million 
American Indians in

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1491. In the census in 
1910, there were 200,000.

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A lot of that population loss 
is due to diseases, measles,

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smallpox, and so forth.

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For the colonizers who 
were greedy for Indian

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lands, there were 
two ways to get it.

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Either by killing people or 
by making them non-Indians.

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In 1884, at age 8,

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like tens of thousands of 
other American Indian children,

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Zitkála-úá left the reservation 
to attend a boarding 
school run by missionaries

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in Indiana.

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The boarding school system 
was an institutional way 
of trying to erase tribal

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identity. You had children 
from all these different 
tribes thrown in together,

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made to wear uniforms, lose 
their individual identities,

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forbidden to speak 
their native languages,

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forced to become Christians.

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"Like a slender tree, I 
had been uprooted from my 
mother, nature, and God.

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I was shorn of my branches.

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Now a cold bare pole I seem to 
be planted in a strange earth,

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trembling with fear 
and distrust. Often 
I wept in secret.".

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I was taken when I was young to 
this very strange place called

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boarding school.

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The idea was they would 
take us from our parents 
and break down culture and

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history and language and 
tradition. My name is 
LaDonna Brave Bull Allard.

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My real name is Ta Maka 
Waste Win, which means 
Her Good Earth Woman.

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I am a historian and 
genealogist for the Standing 
Rock Sioux Tribe and I

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stand up for my people.

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Nobody knows who we are in our 
own country, in our own land.

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We became invisible in 
America. So for 35 years,

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I've compiled the history 
of my people. I've

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been trying to heal my 
people through language

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and culture and tradition 
and spirituality.

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In 1897,

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Zitkála-úá became a teacher 
at the Carlisle Indian 
School in Pennsylvania,

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one of the first 
federally-funded boarding 
schools for American

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Indian youth, founded 
by military officer 
Richard Henry Pratt.

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The idea that Richard Pratt 
had was to kill the Indian to

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save the man. The way 
you look, the way you 
dress, the way you think,

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the way you talk, the way you 
pray. They had to cut that out.

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Save the soul inside. It's 
tragic, really. Native

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people weren't even viewed 
as human beings at this time.

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After disagreements with 
Pratt, Zitkála-úá left 
her job at Carlisle,

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and in 1900,

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published several exposés 
about the trauma of the 
boarding school experience in

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the Atlantic Monthly.

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"Gazing upon the Indian 
girls and boys bending 
over their books,

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the white visitors walked out of 
the schoolhouse well satisfied:

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they were educating the 
children of the 'Red Man'!

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But few have paused to 
question whether real life 
or long-lasting death lies

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beneath this semblance 
of civilization.".

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The stories are published.

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And the criticisms are 
that she bites the hands 
that fed her - that

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she's criticizing the 
boarding school education,

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which educated her 
to write the stories.

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In 1901,

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Zitkála-úá also published 
a book of short stories 
based on the Sioux oral

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tradition.

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"I have tried to transplant 
the native spirit of these 
tales into the English

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language, since America in 
the last few centuries has 
acquired a new tongue.".

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She works very hard to make the

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disparate parts of 
her life fit together.

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But she also sees herself 
as being a preserver 
of those stories.

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In 1902, Zitkála-úá 
married Raymond Bonnin,

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another boarding school 
survivor from her tribe.

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They lived for 14 years 
among the Ute Nation on the 
Uintah and Ouray Reservation

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in Utah, raising their 
son and working for the 
Bureau of Indian affairs.

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There, in 1913,

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Zitkála-úá wrote the first 
American Indian opera,

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in collaboration with white 
composer William Hanson.

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'The Sun Dance Opera' 
was inspired by a sacred 
ceremony of spiritual healing

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then outlawed by 
the U.S. Government.

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Sun Dance is common among 
the tribes on the Plains.

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And it is a dance of personal 
devotion and sacrifice. 
She is resisting the

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denial of religious ritual,

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and trying to elevate these 
tribal sacred dances and songs

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to what she knows is 
respected in Western society,

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which is grand opera.

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The opera was staged across 
Utah 15 times by a mixed 
Native and non-native

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cast. With the major 
roles performed by 
trained white singers,

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some critics suggest 
the opera presented 
stereotypical depictions

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of American Indians.

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The opera gave a space to 
perform sacred dances and songs

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in a public setting. It 
preserved those songs.

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As she witnessed the 
quality of life on Indian 
reservations decline,

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Zitkála-úá moved to 
Washington, D.C. in 1916,

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to dedicate the rest of her 
life to political activism.

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"Indians are virtually 
prisoners of war in America.

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Treaties with our government 
are still unfulfilled... There

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is no doubt about the direction 
in which I wish to go:

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to spend my energies in 
working for the Indian race.".

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As secretary of the Society 
of American Indians,

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the first civil rights 
organization created by 
and for American Indians,

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she edited its journal, 
and served as a 
lobbyist in Congress.

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She gives public speeches, 
she writes editorials.

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And one of her major 
causes was to help get 
citizenship for American

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Indians.

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"Now the time is at hand 
when the American Indian 
shall have his day in court,

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and find his rightful 
place in our American life.

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Wardship is no substitute 
for citizenship,

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therefore we seek 
enfranchisement.".

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Zitkála-úá's work was 
significant to the passage of 
the Indian Citizenship Act

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of 1924, which granted U.S. 
citizenship to American Indians.

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Zitkála-úá understood that 
there's these two worlds 
that you have to be a part

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of, and you want to have 
power in both of them.

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In 1926,

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she and her husband founded 
the National Council 
of American Indians,

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to continue advocating 
for American Indians' 
rights and representation.

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She served as its 
president for 12 years.

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That to me is like somebody 
who has enough empowerment

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in herself and enough 
integrity that she 
didn't let them stop her.

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In my culture, women have 
always been warriors.

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In 2014, they called 
me and said, 'LaDonna,

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there's a pipeline 
being proposed. You 
gotta look at the map.

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You're the closest land owner.' 
And I thought, how dare they,

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I buried my son on that 
hill. And I said, no.

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So we started Sacred Stone 
Camp, and asked people 
to come stand with me.

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People from the whole world 
came in a nonviolent resistance.

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She would have stood with us,

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and she probably would have been 
one of the musicians playing.

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Zitkála-úá died in 1938,

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three months before the New 
York premiere of 'The Sun 
Dance Opera.' Because of

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her husband's military 
service in World War I,

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she was buried at 
Arlington Cemetery.

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She firmly believed that 
the answer to Indian issues

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lay in Indian people themselves.

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Indians are still fighting 
for their rights - the 
theft of Indian land,

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missing and murdered 
indigenous women,

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voters rights - and that's 
where her voice is important.

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"The American Indian 
must have a voice.

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Let us teach our children to 
be proud of their Indian blood.

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Let us stand up straight 
and continue claiming 
our human rights."