Raymond Wilson
Special to ICT
Noted musician, author and activist Gertrude Simmons Bonnin was born on the Yankton Sioux Reservation in South Dakota on Feb. 22, 1876. Her Native name was Zitkala-Sa, meaning Red Bird. In 1884, she was sent to White’s Indian Manual Labor Institute, operated by the Quakers, in Wabash, Indiana. There, she, like many Native children at boarding schools, had her hair cut, was punished for speaking her Native language, and was forced to practice a Christian religion.
In 1887, Bonnin returned home but found conditions there appalling. In 1892, wanting to further her education, she decided to go back to White’s Institute and graduated in 1895. Bonnin then went to Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana, and became known for her speaking, writing, and violin and piano skills. She represented the school at an Indiana oratory competition in 1896 and won first place. “Side by Side,” a powerful argument for Native rights, was the title of her presentation. Poor health kept her from graduating from Earlham. She later studied music at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.
In 1897, Bonnin accepted a position at Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania, and initially received high praise for her work there. She and the Carlisle Band went on a tour in the northeast that included a performance at the White House in March 1900. A planned trip to the Paris Exposition in France apparently failed due to a lack of funding. Although some sources indicated that she played there, the Carlisle source site on Bonnin did not mention the Paris performance. Bonnin also composed the first Native opera, “The Sun Dance,” in collaboration with American composer and Brigham Young University music professor William F. Hanson. In 1913, the opera was first performed and well-received in Utah, where Bonnin resided. Although both Natives and non-Natives were original cast members, the latter were the ones who played the major roles, performing in “red face.” The opera was later performed on Broadway by the New York Opera Guild that selected it as opera of the year in 1938.
Bonnin became best known as an author and activist. Her first articles appeared in the Atlantic Monthly in the January, February and March 1900 editions. They were entitled “Impressions of an Indian Childhood,” “The School Days of an Indian Girl,” and “An Indian Teacher Among Indians.” These articles and “The Soft-Hearted Sioux,” in Harper’s Monthly in March 1901 resulted in her being fired by Richard Henry Pratt, the founder of Carlisle, for her anti-assimilation remarks. She wrote several additional articles, including “Why I Am a Pagan,” in the Atlantic Monthly in December 1902 and other publications in magazines and in the Quarterly Journal of the Society of American Indians, renamed the American Indian Magazine in 1916. Bonnin also wrote two books, “Old Indian Legends” (1902) and “American Indian Stories” (1921).
Besides losing her job at Carlisle, Bonnin broke off her engagement to Carlos Montezuma, a Yavapai physician, author, journalist and activist, also in 1901. They both had worked at Carlisle but had some disagreements regarding assimilation versus acculturation issues. She married Raymond T. Bonnin, a Yankton, in 1902. They worked as BIA clerks at the Uintah Ouray Ute Reservation in Utah for several years and witnessed the deplorable conditions on the reservation.
She continued to intensify her demands for Native reforms through her relationship with the Indian Rights Association, the Lake Mohonk Conference of Friends of the Indians, and the Society of American Indians. Regarding the latter, she became a powerful member of the society, serving as secretary, managing correspondence, lecturing at annual conferences, publishing in their journal, and becoming editor of the journal in 1916.
Bonnin left the society in 1920 because of issues such as the use of peyote, which she denounced while other members did not, and society articles not addressing needed reforms as it once had. She was among those who testified at U.S. House of Representatives committee hearings related to the usage of peyote in 1918.
During her last decades, Bonnin worked with the General Federation of Women’s Clubs, demanding more Native self-determination and better education opportunities for Native children. She also investigated non-Native corruption and graft in Oklahoma against the Five Civilized Tribes in 1923.
In 1926, she and her husband established the National Council of American Indians. She served as its president. The primary mission of the organization was to organize Native voters to become more politically involved to improve their rights.
Bonnin initially supported Indian New Deal acts in the 1930s but questioned the dominant role that the BIA still played in the process.
Bonnin died on Jan. 21, 1938, and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. She was among the few major Native females who addressed many of the important issues that concerned Indigenous people in the United States.
Sources: Carlisle Indian School Papers; Society of American Indians Papers; Carlos Montezuma Papers; Tadeusz Lewandowski, Red Bird, Red Power (2019)