Civic Season Guidebook 2025 (1) - Flipbook - Page 6
INNOVATE IN
The Atrium
meet your guide
Zitkála-Šá
I’m a writer, musician, and activist who saw tradition as a living
force to be reimagined. Born on the Yankton Indian
Reservation in 1876, I was taken from my home in South
Dakota at eight and sent to a Quaker boarding school, where I
was punished for speaking my Dakota language. But I refused
to be silenced. I blended Dakota traditions with Western music
to compose The Sun Dance Opera, the first opera by a Native
composer.
I used my writing to expose the brutal realities of
Indian boarding schools. As a champion of Native
rights and women’s suffrage, I helped secure
citizenship for my people with the Indian
Citizenship Act of 1924. Whether through
literature, music, or political organizing,
I spent my life pushing the boundaries of
art, politics, and what it means to be
Indigenous in America.
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