November is Native American Heritage Month, which was created in 1990 to provide a platform for Native American communities and culture. Since then, it has been used by indigenous activists to celebrate their culture, as well as to bring light to serious issues facing indigenous communities, such as high rates of incarceration, suicide and sexual assault/violence.
So, for Native American Heritage Month, check-out these amazing indigenous women who are working to protect and celebrate their heritage year-round.
1. LaDonna Brave Bull Allard
LaDonna Brave Bull Allard is a historian for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, as well as an activist who has been at the forefront of the the Dakota Access Pipeline protests. She founded the first camp of resistance called Sacred Stone to protect indigenous land and water rights by protesting the construction of an oil pipeline running through reservation land.
Check out this article to lean more about the involvement and leadership of Native American women in the Dakota Pipeline Access protests.
2. Winona LaDuke
Winona LaDuke is an Anishinaabe activist and environmentalist who has a long history working for environmental justice and tribal land claims. She is a founder of the environmental advocacy organization called Honor the Earth, which has been active in the Dakota Access Pipeline protests.
3. Johnnie Jae
Johnnie Jae is a Native American woman from the Otoe-Missouria and Choctaw tribes of Oklahoma. She is the founder of A Tribe Called Geek, where she seeks to create spaces for indigenous people in geek and pop cultures, as well as STEM. She also is a part of Not Your Mascots, an organization created to fight the appropriation of indigenous identity and culture found in mainstream stereotypes and mascots.
Check out this article to learn more about Native American people thriving in STEM.
4. Chrystos
Chrystos is a Menominee two-spirit writer and activist, whose poetry explores the realities of being Native American through themes of indigenous rights, feminism and social justice.
Check out this article to learn more about indigenous feminists and their writing.
5. Juliana Brown Eyes-Clifford
Juliana Brown Eyes-Clifford is a Oglala Lakota and Tongan artist based on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, where she uses her passion for art and music and her presence on social media to inspire social justice and awareness about indigenous culture.
Check out this article to learn more about Native Women celebrating their culture on social media.
Celebrate this month by learning about these amazing indigenous women, their cultures and their work against oppression.