American Indian Stories
Publisher: Standard Ebooks
Published: 2022
Language: eng
Subjects: Zitkala-Sa, 1876-1938; Yankton women -- Biography; Yankton Indians -- Social conditions; Yankton Indians -- Government relations; Fiction; Shorts
Description: <p><i>American Indian Stories</i> is the second story collection by Dakota author <a href="https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/zitkala-sa">Zitkála-Šá</a>. In contrast to her earlier collection <a href="https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/zitkala-sa/old-indian-legends"><i>Old Indian Legends</i></a>, which is a collection of traditional Dakota legends, <i>American Indian Stories</i> is a collection of stories about contemporary Dakota life. Many center on the interactions and conflicts between Dakota and settler society, especially the challenges posed by the assimilationist Indian residential school system. The first few stories (through “Why I Am a Pagan”) are autobiographical in nature, drawing on Zitkála-Šá’s own experience as a student and then teacher in residential schools. Her story “The Softhearted Sioux” about a Sioux man’s loss of cultural and religious identity was even attacked as “trash” by her employer at the Carlisle School, Richard Henry Pratt (the coiner of the infamous slogan “kill the Indian, save the man”).</p>