ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -In light of the cultural, social, and literary barriers for American Indian writers throughout Euro-American history, the published presence of an early twentieth-century woman writer, Zitkala-Sa (Gertrude Simmons Bonnin) 1876-1938, is most significant and deserves appreciation and careful study.

Detailed explanation-2: -Her name was Christine Quitasket, or Mourning Dove, as some may have come to know her from her pen name. Her novel Cogewea, The Half Blood: A Depiction of the Great Montana Cattle Range, was the first to be published by a Native American woman.

Detailed explanation-3: -In “American Indian Stories”, published in 1921, Zitkala-Sa recounts her experience as a Native American child sent away to white boarding schools and forced to face the reality of cultural assimilation and submission.

Detailed explanation-4: -She founded the National Council of American Indians in 1926, and, as the organization’s president, she advocated citizenship rights, better educational opportunities, improved health care, and cultural recognition and preservation.

Detailed explanation-5: -The first novel published by a Native American was The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murieta (1854) by John Rollin Ridge (Cherokee, 1827-67), son of the highly respected Cherokee leader John Ridge.