American Indian Stories, Legends, and Other Writings | Study Guide

Zitkala-Ša's collected works in American Indian Stories, Legends, and Other Writings demonstrate the huge breadth and style of work the author produced in her lifetime. From early speeches as an impassioned college student to her later articles calling for political reform, Zitkala-Ša demonstrates a deep understanding of her culture and its changing status. Her collection of poetry and prose, both fiction and nonfiction, reveals much about the situation of Native Americans in the early 20th century, coming at a time when the Yankton Sioux were experiencing new forms of colonialism (i.e., boarding schools and privatized land). She relates legends she loved hearing as a child and tells of her experiences living with her mother in a tepee, then attending boarding school, and later as a college student and teacher. She opens windows into her life within and outside of the Dakota culture.