Women Wednesday - Winona LaDuke
March 15th, 2023
“Let us be the ancestors our descendants will thank.” - Winona LaDuke
Winona LaDuke is an economist, author, and Native American activist who advocates for Indigenous rights to their homelands, natural resources, and cultural practices. Winona is of Mississippi Band Anishinaabeg decent like her father Vincent “Sun Bear” LaDuke who was from the White Earth Reservation in Minnesota.
Both of Winona’s parents were activists and encouraged her to delve into her cultural roots. From an early age, Winona attended tribal events like powwows with her father. Even after her parents’ divorce and her subsequent move to Ashland, Oregon with her mother Betty (nee Bernstein) LaDuke, Winona would frequently visit White Earth and stayed with Native communities over her summer breaks.
Her interest in Native issues grew while she was a student at Harvard University. On top of her classes and coursework, Winona spoke out against uranium mining on Navajo land in Nevada and testified about the exploitation of Native lands before the United Nations.
After earning a degree in rural economic development from Harvard in 1982, Winona returned to White Earth as principal of the reservation’s high school. Soon after, the Anishinaabeg people filed a lawsuit to regain lands promised to them by an 1867 federal treaty. The lawsuit alleged that by 1934 over 90 percent of Anishinaabeg land had been taken over by lumber companies and non-Native groups due to government policies. Although the lawsuit was later dismissed, Winona’s involvement in the case strengthened her desire to protect Native lands.
This goal led Winona to become a founding member and former co-chair of the Indigenous Women’s Network (IWN). Since its establishment in 1982, IWN has worked to recover Native lands, protect and conserve natural resources, and empower Indigenous women to take on active roles in tribal politics and culture.
In 1989, Winona earned a master’s degree in community economic development at Antioch University and founded the White Earth Land Recovery Project which buys back reservation land that was previously purchased by non-Native people. By doing so, the organization hopes to provide economic opportunity for Native people and foster sustainability initiatives such as renewable energy, the expansion of indigenous farming methods, and the protection of wild food varieties from patenting and genetic modification.
In 1993, Winona co-founded Honor the Earth which nationally and internationally advocates for initiatives like climate change, renewable energy, and environmental justice on behalf of Native environmental organizations. Honor the Earth has also fundraised over $2 million and counting for more than 200 Native American communities.
Winona was also a two-time vice-presidential candidate for Ralph Nader in 1996 and 2000 on the Green Party ticket. Her fight for Indigenous rights continued as she helped lead protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2016 which threatens watersheds and violates treaty rights. She has since started Winona’s Hemp & Heritage Farm which aims to promote local food, energy, and the creation of an economy led by Indigenous women.
Sarah Boison, Senior Consultant at HRP Associates, Inc.
Sources:
https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/winona-laduke
https://www.winonaladuke.com/
https://humansandnature.org/winona-laduke/
https://honorearth.org/
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