Zitkála-Šá

Zitkála-Šá (Lakota: Red Bird), also known as Gertrude Simmons Bonnin was a writer, editor, translator, musician, educator, and political activist. In 1926 she and her husband founded the National Council of American Indians, dedicated to the cause of uniting the tribes throughout the U.S. in the cause of gaining full citizenship rights through suffrage. It was not until the passage of the Snyder Act in 1924 that admitted Native Americans born in the U.S. to full U.S. citizenship and the right to vote.

Zitkála-Šá's legacy lives on as one of the most influential Native American activists of the twentieth century. She left for history an influential theory of Indian resistance and a crucial model for reform. Through her activism, Zitkála-Šá was able to make crucial changes to education, health care, legal standing of Native American people and the preservation of Indian culture.