![]() ![]() Zitkala-Sa’s arrival at the school was traumatic. She would be forced to give up her Dakota culture for an “American” one. She did not know English, and tribal languages were banned at the school. She was about to spend years away from everything she knew. There were no schools on the reservation, and she wanted her daughter to have an education.Īccording to her autobiography, as soon as Zitkala-Sa boarded the train, she regretted begging her mother to let her go. She did not want her daughter to leave and did not trust the white strangers, but she feared that the Dakota way of life was ending. After debating the decision, Zitkala-Sa’s mother agreed to let her go. The missionaries told stories about riding trains and picking red apples in large fields. For children who had never been off the reservation, the school sounded like a magical place. Zitkala-Sa’s older brother had recently returned from such a school, and her mother was hesitant to send her daughter away. When Zitkala-Sa was eight years old, missionaries from the White’s Manual Labor Institute in Indiana came to the Yankton reservation to recruit children for their boarding school. Little is known about her father, who was Anglo-American. She spent her early childhood on the reservation with her mother, who was of Sioux Dakota heritage. Zitkala-Sa was born on Februon the Yankton Indian Reservation. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |