The National Council of American Indians
The most significant organizational achievement of Zitkála-Šá’s political career was the founding of the National Council of American Indians in 1926.
By the mid-1920s, she and Raymond had relocated to Washington, D.C., where the proximity to the federal government made direct political advocacy more effective. She had spent years working through existing organizations and channels, and she had concluded that what was needed was a new organization specifically focused on coordinating Native political advocacy and lobbying.
The National Council of American Indians was designed to be that organization. It would work across tribal lines, coordinating the political interests of multiple nations in their engagement with the federal government, and it would operate as a lobbying and advocacy organization in the specific sense that word carries in the capital — as an organization that worked directly with legislators and government officials to influence policy.
Zitkála-Šá served as the organization’s president and was its principal driving force. Raymond served as its secretary-treasurer. Together, they ran the organization from their home in Washington, D.C., with very limited resources and very limited staff.
The National Council of American Indians lobbied on issues including the citizenship question (the Indian Citizenship Act was passed in 1924, partly in response to the political pressure that organizations like the National Council helped generate), the rights of Native women (Native women who had lost their tribal status by marrying non-Native men faced specific legal complications), and the broader question of how the federal trust responsibility should be exercised in ways that actually benefited Native people.
The organization was not as powerful as its Washington location might have made it. Resources were limited, the political system was resistant, and the specific issues affecting Native people were not high priorities for most members of Congress. But Zitkála-Šá’s presence in Washington, her ability to engage with political figures, and her continued work of writing and speaking kept the issues she cared about visible in the political conversation.