Zitkala-Sa wrote several works chronicling her struggles in her youth as she was pulled back and forth between the influences of dominant American culture and her own Native American heritage, as well as books in English that brought traditional Native American stories to a widespread white readership for one of the first times.

American Indian Stories is a collection of childhood stories, allegorical fiction, and an essay, including several of Zitkala-Sa's article. It was first published in 1921 and served as an account of the hardships which she and other Native Americans encountered when they were brought to missionary and manual labor schools designed to “civilize” them. The autobiographical writings described her early life on the Yankton Reservation, her years as a student at White's Manual Labor Institute and Earlham College, and the time she spent teaching at Carlisle Indian Industrial School.

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