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Recognizing Freedom: Zitkala-Ša's Fight For Native Citizenship, Camille J. Karpowitz
Recognizing Freedom: Zitkala-Ša's Fight For Native Citizenship, Camille J. Karpowitz
Criterion: A Journal of Literary Criticism
Minority groups protesting and petitioning for civil rights have been fundamental to United States history. Before the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, Zitkala-Ša, a Native American rights activist, positions herself as a voice for Native citizenship. Within the native community, however, the issue of citizenship was not as easily advocated for, due to past injustices perpetrated by the United States government. As a result, Zitkala-Ša has been labeled an assimilationist or one who connect to either Natives or Americans.
While her advocacy for citizenship does not go unnoticed by scholars, it is often ignored in her works outside of political …