Zitkala-Sa
Activist
Native American writer, musician, teacher and political activist of Yankton heritage. She co-founded the National Council of American Indians.
Before her years of activism, she was an academic scholar who studied and taught music. During her graduation, she gave a speech on women's rights that received high praise from local newspapers.
She co-composed the first American-Indian opera.
She was born in South Dakota on a reservation to a Yankton mother and a French father. While she was young, her father abandoned their family. She married Raymond Bonnin in 1902 and they had a daughter together.
Her influence made way for the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 during the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt.