Indigenous Women Reshaping the World

Haunanie-Kay Trask
Haunani-Kay Trask was a scholar, poet, and one of the most influential Native Hawaiians in history. She was born on October 3rd, 1949, to Haunani and Bernanrd Trask. She graduated from Kamehameha Schools in 1967, and then attended the University of Chicago, before transferrin go the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She then earned a master’s degree in 1975 and a Ph. D. in political science in 1981, both from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  Haunanie-Kay Trask was a key founding member of the Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Throughout her years was a champion for Native Hawaiian rights, and opposed tourism to Hawai’i, as well as the U.S military presence there. She worked and wrote extensively on Indigenous People’s Rights in the modern world, and represented Native Hawaiians at the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Peoples in Geneva. Trask died from cancer on July 3rd, 2021 and is survived by her longtime partner David Stannard. 

Ingrid Washinawatok
Ingrid Washinawatok was born July 31st, 1957 in Keshena, Wisconsin. At an early age she was a profound activist, joining the movement to federally recognize Menominee as a tribe at age 14. She graduated from high school in 1975, and attended college at the University of Wisconsin and the University of Havana in Cuba. In the 1980s she helped found the Indigenous Women’s Network and was an active member of the Indigenous Initiative for Peace. Ingrid was an award-winning lecturer who helped bring to light the struggles of Indigenous Peoples and was quoted by Mary Robinson to be “a tireless defender of the rights of Indigenous Peoples”. Ingrid Washinawatok died February 25th, 1999, murdered by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia while en route to the U’wa people of Colombia to help set up a school to protect their culture and language. 

Janet McCloud
Janet McCloud was born on the Tulalip Reservation on Marh 30th, 1934, and was the oldest of three girls and a descendant of Chief Seattle’s family, and had a childhood marked with poverty and alcohol abuse. She grew up mostly in churches and foster homes, and spent much of her time in the city, and was not exposed to her tribal customs and traditions. In the 1950s, she met a tribal fisherman and electrical lineman named Don McCloud, and had a total of eight children together. Throughout the 1960s, the McClouds founded the Survival of American Indians Association, in response to increasing hostilities against native peoples by game wardens and state troopers. Janet continually helped organize protests,  and occasionally worked alongside Black Panthers activists, such as during the protests at the state Capitol in Olympia, Washington. In the 1970s Janet began reconnecting with indigenous spirituality, and began promoting it along with social justice, advocating for native spirituality traditions to be given to native inmates in prisons. Janet McCloud continued her fight against injustice against native peoples for the rest of her life, before passing away due to complications from diabetes and high blood pressure, on November 25th, 2003.
 

Roberta Blackgoat
Roberta Blackgoat was born October 15th, 1916, in Big Mountain, Arizona.  She grew up in a very rural area, near Thin Rock Mesa, without running water or electricity. Roberta was brought up in a very traditional Dine’ lifestyle, being exposed to numerous ceremonies, traditions, and a great respect for the earth and land around her. She herded sheep and made her own rugs with the wool, and was a very influential advocate against coal mining, and won numerous awards, such as Indigenous Woman of the Year, the Martin Lither King humanitarian award, and founded the Weaving for Freedom organization. Being a modern indigenous woman who was incredibly connected with her own people, Roberta was a champion for human rights. In 1943 she married Benny Blackgoat in Big Mountain, and in 1968 she began traveling as a political activist and resister to the Navajo Relocation Program, which she continued to do for the rest of her life. She is survived by her 5 children, 21 grandchildren, and 16 great-grandchildren, after she passed away on April 23rd 2002, in San Francisco. 

Audrey Shenandoah
Audrey Shenandoah was born on May 5th, 1926 in the Onondaga Nation, and was primarily raised by her grandparents. Growing up, she was a very good peacemaker and mediator in her tribe, helping resolve conflicts in her natation and oversaw the use of natural resources by her tribe as well. She eventually rose up to be chosen as the clan leader for her nation, with many noting her compassion, dedication, and intelligence. Audrey consistently fight for environmental rights and the return of Iroquois artifacts. In the 1995, the Haudenosaunee Environmental Taskforce confronted the United Nations about environmental and other problems plaguing their communicates, with Shenandoah speaking personally about her experiences in the community, and helping lessen the impact on the environment that people were doing. Her writings are internationally renowned, and she left a lasting impact on the indigenous community. On March 21st, 2019, she passed away in the morning and is survived by her 10 children, and dozens of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. 

Nilak Butler
Nilak Butler was born to an Inuit family on September 3rd, 1953, and never met her biological family. Adopted by Alma and Archie McCormick, she spent her years growing up in Washington, Georgia, and eventually Hollywood in California. She ran away from home numerous times, but graduated high school at age 14, then went to Louisiana State University. In the early 1970s she got a contract with Warner Brothers and began acting in films in 1972. Through the 1970s Nilak worked with members of the American Indian Movement in Los Angeles, and assisted Annie Mae Pictou and Ernie Peters. She spent this time advocating for indigenous rights and condemning local governments and companies who broke agreements with tribal leaders, and was arrested in September 1975 when she was in an encampment at the Jumping Bull Ranch, which was raided by government agents. She was released on bond and continued to be harassed by law enforcement and government entities for years. In the 1980s Nilak helped found the Indigenous Women’s Network, and assisted in coordinating gatherings, conferences, and in developing the organization. In the late 1980s she returned to acting, and in the 1990s helped found the Indigenous Environmental Network. She spent the rest of her life campaigning for environmental conservation and indigenous assistance. Nilak passed away on December 26th, 2002, from ovarian cancer. She is survived by her daughter and her grandson, as well as many brothers and sisters.

Marsha Gomez
Marsha Gomez was born on December 24th, 1951, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She was the eldest of five siblings, and her father, who was a Canary Islander, own a construction business which provided a comfortable lifestyle for the family. Her mother was of Choctaw and Cajun ancestry as well. Marsha grew up very close to her indigenous roots, and was inspired by activism done by her father against toxic waste dumping, and gained a refined sense of justice. Marsha went to college in Louisiana and studied special education and art education, from 1969 to 1971. From 1979 to 1981 she attended the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, and earned her bachelor’s there. In 1981 she moved to Austin, Texas, and became a well-known sculptor and teacher, instructing students in pottery making at the Dougherty Arts Center. Throughout all her activism and artistry she celebrated her indigenous heritage, and was an active participant in LGBTQ+ as well as women’s rights campaigns across Texas, on top of her constant environmental activism. In 1983 she helped found the Indigenous women’s Network, and Marsha established an indigenous woman-centered arts organization in Austin, called Artistas Indigenas. Marsha Gomez was also a single mother who had a son in 1974, who suffered from schizophrenia. On September 29th 1998 Marsha was murdered by her son in Austin, and her funeral was held at Alma de Mujer, another indigenous organization she helped develop.