Zitkala-Ša died in Washington, D.C., having spent her final decades advocating for Native American rights and citizenship.
Zitkala-Ša died on January 26, 1938, in Washington, D.C., where she had lived for many years while conducting her advocacy work at the heart of American political power. She was buried in Arlington National Cemetery, a recognition in part of her late husband Raymond Bonnin's military service, though her own achievements as a writer and activist stand as her primary legacy.
At the time of her death, she was still serving as president of the National Council of American Indians, an organization she had founded in 1926 to fight for Native citizenship rights, education, and healthcare. Her death came only fourteen years after the passage of the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, a law she had actively lobbied for, and just as the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 was beginning to reshape federal Native policy along lines she had long advocated—tribal self-governance and cultural preservation.
Zitkala-Ša's death marked the end of a remarkable career that spanned literature, music, education, and political activism. She left behind a body of published work—including Old Indian Legends (1901) and American Indian Stories (1921)—that remains foundational to Native American literature. Her efforts helped pave the way for future generations of Indigenous activists and writers, and she is remembered today as one of the most consequential Native American women of her era, honored posthumously with a 2023 U.S. quarter bearing her likeness.