Zitkala-Sa – Red Bird
(1876 South Dakota Indian Reservation – 1938, Washington D.C.)
Violinist, composer, political activist
Zitkala-Sa was of European and Sioux descent. Her childhood was turned upside down when she was forced to leave her mother and her environment to go to school in Richmond, Indiana. The intent was to eliminate her culture, her spirit, her bond with her people. But this did not happen. Saved by her musical talent that led her to excel in the study of the violin, Zitkala’Sa was the first to compose a Native American opera, “The Sundance Opera”. She devoted her life to honouring her roots and denouncing the assimilation to the culture of the conquerors. She fought for legal change: during the early 20th century, many Native Americans who wanted to maintain tribal connections were denied citizenship. She did not live long enough to see her wish fulfilled: the approval of the citizenship law of 1940. But Zitkala-Sa lives, very solid, in the life of those who struggle to maintain their culture, their order of belonging in spite of all the attempts, more or less violent, of cultural colonization and assimilation to the victor. The Venusian Bonnin crater bears her name.
