Native nations & living voices
Zitkála-Šá
1876–1938

Massachusetts connection
Studied music in Boston
Zitkála-Šá was a Yankton Dakota writer, musician, and advocate for Native rights. She studied violin at the New England Conservatory in Boston. Her writing described the harm of schools that forced Native children to give up parts of their cultures, and she worked for citizenship and voting rights.
You can use your device’s reading tools or read with a partner.
Your turn, historian
Find a detail. Build an idea.
- What did this person or group do? Point to a detail in the reading.
- How did this person care for a community, its rights, or its knowledge?
- What would you like to find out next? Which kind of source could help?
“Zitkála-Šá mattered because ___. A detail that supports my idea is ___.”
Follow the evidence.
This short reading is an original classroom summary. Open the source with your teacher to check details and learn more.
Read the source: National Park Service ↗Ask: Who made this source? What can it tell us? What might it leave out?