Her later books were among the first works to bring traditional Native American stories to a widespread white English-speaking readership.

She described the deep misery of having her heritage stripped away when she was forced to pray as a Quaker and to cut her traditionally long hair.

[8] In 1891, wanting more education, Zitkala-Ša decided at age fifteen to return to the White's Indiana Manual Labor Institute.

In June 1895, when Zitkala-Ša was awarded her diploma, she gave a speech on the inequality of women's rights, which was praised highly by the local newspaper.

[9] Though her mother wanted her to return home after graduation, Zitkala-Ša chose to attend Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana, where she had been offered a scholarship.

While initially feeling isolated and uncertain among her predominantly white peers, she proved her oratorical talents with a speech titled "Side by Side.” During this time, she began gathering traditional stories from a spectrum of Native tribes, translating them into Latin and English for children to read.

[10] In 1897, six weeks before graduation, she was forced to leave Earlham College due to ill health and financial difficulties.

[11] Also in 1901, Zitkala-Ša was sent by Carlisle's founder, Colonel Richard Henry Pratt, to the Yankton Reservation to recruit students.

She was troubled to find her mother's house in disrepair, her brother's family had fallen into poverty, and white settlers were beginning to occupy lands allotted to the Yankton Dakota under the Dawes Act of 1887.

He had refused to give up his private medical practice in Chicago and relocate with her to the Yankton Indian Agency, where she wanted to return.

She countered the contemporary trend that suggested Native Americans readily adopted and conformed to the Christianity forced on them in schools and public life.

[29] First published in 1921, these stories told of the hardships which she and other Native Americans encountered at the missionary and manual labor schools designed to "civilize" them and assimilate them to majority culture.

The autobiographical writings described her early life on the Yankton Reservation, her years as a student at White's Manual Labor Institute and Earlham College, and her time teaching at Carlisle Indian Industrial School.

[29] Her autobiography contrasted the charm of her early life on the reservation with the "iron routine" which she found in the assimilation boarding schools.

"[31] Commissioned by the Boston publisher Ginn and Company, Old Indian Legends (1901) was a collection of stories including some that she learned as a child and others she had gathered from various tribes.

[32][12] Directed primarily at children, the collection was an attempt both to preserve Native American traditions and stories in print and to garner respect and recognition for those from the dominant European-American culture.

The work influenced Congress to pass the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, which encouraged tribes to re-establish self-government, including management of their lands.

Under this act, the government returned some lands to them as communal property, which it had previously classified as surplus, so they could put together parcels that could be managed.

[28] While Zitkala-Ša lived on the Uintah-Ouray reservation in Utah, she met American composer William F. Hanson, who was a professor of music at Brigham Young University.

[3] The opera premiered in Utah in February 1913, with dancing and some parts performed by the Ute from the nearby Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation, and lead singing roles filled by non-natives.

Since the late 20th century, activists have criticized SAI and Zitkala-Ša as misguided in their strong advocacy of citizenship and employment rights for Native Americans.

[12] From Washington, Zitkala-Ša began lecturing nationwide on behalf of SAI to promote greater awareness of the cultural and tribal identity of Native Americans.

[39] In 1926, she and her husband founded the National Council of American Indians (NCAI), dedicated to the cause of uniting the tribes throughout the US in the cause of gaining full citizenship rights through suffrage.

She helped initiate a government investigation into the exploitation of Native Americans in Oklahoma and the attempts being made to defraud them of drilling rights and leasing fees for their oil-rich lands.

[12] She undertook a speaking tour across the country for the General Federation of Women's Clubs where she called for the abolition of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Zitkala-Ša continued to work for civil rights, and better access to health care and education for Native Americans until she died in 1938.

[44] Zitkala-Ša lived part of her life in the Lyon Park neighborhood of Arlington County, Virginia, near Washington, DC.

[45][46] In 2018, Melodia Women's Choir of New York City performed the world premiere of a commissioned work based on the story of Zitkala-Ša, Red Bird by Cevanne Horrocks-Hopayian.

[47] Chris Pappan illustrated a Google Doodle that incorporated ledger art for use in the United States on February 22, 2021, to celebrate her 145th birthday.

Through her activism, Zitkala-Ša was able to make crucial changes to education, health care, and legal standing for Native American people and the preservation of Indian culture.