Zitkala-Sa Zitkála-Šá
writer · activist · Yankton Dakota · 1876–1938
A Dakota woman. At eight she followed missionaries to a boarding school, and as an adult wrote about it in magazines. She was a musician and a campaigner for Native rights.
Posts
1900 · The day her hair was cut at the boarding school she entered at eight. Among her people, short hair was worn by mourners and by cowards
I cried aloud, shaking my head all the while until I felt the cold blades of the scissors against my neck, and heard them gnaw off one of my thick braids. Then I lost my spirit.
"The School Days of an Indian Girl," in American Indian Stories
1 in 100 Billion · The social network of those who came before us