After a thirteen-month engagement with the YMCA as a stenographer and entertainer for World War I troops in France, she returned to the United States in 1919 and continued her music studies.

Among her many activities, she worked as an interior designer, wrote articles for newspapers and magazines, published a book, and researched traditional Native songs.

[2][3] She was born on June 12, 1895, on a farm near Stilwell, in the Going Snake District of the Cherokee Nation Indian Territory to Josephine (née Pace) and Thomas LaFayette Rider (Dom-Ges-Ke Un Ka Lunt).

[4][15] She trained in literature under Dalla Lore Sharp, at Boston University, also studying ethics, logic, and psychology; at the same time she attended the Emerson School of Oratory.

[22] Her repertoire included arias from operas, such as Carmen, Madama Butterfly, and Natoma, popular music like "Dear Eyes" by Frank H. Grey and "Thy Voice Is Like a Silver Flute" by J. H. Larway, as well as Native songs performed in costume and accompanied by a hand drum.

[26] Beginning in March 1922, and continuing until late 1923, newspaper articles reported that Unkalunt was to create the role of Nitana, in the opera of the same name, composed by Umberto Vesci, an Italian immigrant to the United States.

[31] The wide press coverage provided her career with substantial publicity and resulted in her portrait being painted by Remington Schuyler,[32] and featured on the September 1923 cover of the national magazine Farm & Fireside.

[34] When Nitana fell through, Unkalunt began to write her own libretto for a Native American opera for which Herbert agreed to compose music, but the work was unfinished at his 1924 death.

Benedict alleged that Unkalunt had stolen from her father some silk material, furnishings, and clothing, originally valued at $355 but reported in court to be worn and threadbare items worth about $10.

Newspapers reported that Ainslie and his wife had met the singer during a meeting of the Greenwich Village Historical Society, held in his gallery to promote Native American art.

[50][51] Unkalunt then counter-sued Ainslie for defamation, the expenses incurred in her defense, and the loss of wages, as forty of her scheduled concerts had canceled because of the accusations.

[52] She had testified at her trial that she was earning a living working as a secretary for the Tidewater Oil Company, as an assistant to a real estate agent, from writing, and from a benefactor.

It accepted associate members who were allies and its purpose was to foster an appreciation for cultural expression and to influence lawmaking which would be of benefit to "Amerinds",[57] a phrase Unkalunt coined to call American Indians.

She broadcast musical recitals and educational programs about Native cultures via shortwave radio to Australia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, South Africa, and several locations in South America, as well as on WJZ in Newark, New Jersey and WRC in Washington, D.C.[63] In 1929, Unkalunt and other Native performers were invited to sing at the White House for the inauguration of President Herbert Hoover and his vice president Charles Curtis, a member of the Kaw Nation.

The walls featured murals such as "Spirit of the Wind" and "The Storm Clouds", works representing flight to symbolize radio's broadcasting over air.

[69] She was hired by Vice President Curtis in 1929 to decorate his private study in his suite at the Mayflower Hotel, which served as his official residence in Washington.

She related the voices of the earth, including the wild roar of water in a river gorge, the songs of birds and buzz of insects, and music in summer breezes and falling rain.

[74] William S. Gailmor, reviewing the work for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, said the book combined reality and myth to portray the magic of nature and the ability of plants, flowers, and herbs to provide both beauty and medicine.

[76] In 1942, Unkalunt moved to Washington, D.C., at the request of Nelson Rockefeller to take up a post in the science and education department of the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs.

[77][78] She continued to produce content for newspapers and magazines, sang at women's and community group gatherings, and participated in programs sponsored by the State Department for Voice of America.

[78] In 1957, Umkalunt's nephew, Major T. L. Rider, donated a collection of her stage costumes and artifacts to the Indian Museum in Ponca City, Oklahoma.