Winona LaDuke is an American economist, environmentalist, writer and industrial hemp grower, known for her work on tribal land claims and preservation, as well as sustainable development.
Lake Oahe is a large reservoir behind Oahe Dam on the Missouri River; it begins in central South Dakota and continues north into North Dakota in the United States. The lake has an area of 370,000 acres (1,500 km2) and a maximum depth of 205 ft (62 m). By volume, it is the fourth-largest reservoir in the US. Lake Oahe has a length of approximately 231 mi (372 km) and has a shoreline of 2,250 mi (3,620 km). 51 recreation areas are located along Lake Oahe, and 1.5 million people visit the reservoir every year. The lake is named for the 1874 Oahe Indian Mission.
The Standing Rock Reservation lies across the border between North and South Dakota in the United States, and is inhabited by ethnic "Hunkpapa and Sihasapa bands of Lakota Oyate and the Ihunktuwona and Pabaksa bands of the Dakota Oyate," as well as the Hunkpatina Dakota. The Ihanktonwana Dakota are the Upper Yanktonai, part of the collective of Wiciyena. The sixth-largest Native American reservation in land area in the US, Standing Rock includes all of Sioux County, North Dakota, and all of Corson County, South Dakota, plus slivers of northern Dewey and Ziebach counties in South Dakota, along their northern county lines at Highway 20.
Shane Balkowitsch is an American wet plate photographer from Bismarck, North Dakota. Balkowitsch was given the name "Maa'ishda tehxixi Agu'agshi" by Calvin Grinnell of the Hidatsa-Mandan-Arikara Nation on October 28, 2018. The subject of his photos is the human condition. Since 2012 he has photographed over 4,700 individuals, including various celebrities and historical figures. Balkowitsch is a self-taught photographer.
Kanahus Manuel, or Kanahus Freedom, is an indigenous activist in British Columbia, Canada. She is a birth keeper and a member of the activist group Tiny House Warriors.
The Dakota Access Pipeline Protests, also known by the hashtag #NoDAPL, were a series of grassroots Native American protests against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline in the northern United States that began in April 2016. Protests ended on February 23, 2017 when National Guard and law enforcement officers evicted the last remaining protesters.
Dallas Goldtooth is a Native American (Sioux) environmental activist and performing artist. He is a co-founding member of the 1491s, a Native American sketch comedy group and a member of the cast of the television series Reservation Dogs. He is a Dakota language-instructor, writer, artist, and actor.
Deia Schlosberg is an American documentary filmmaker and producer. She is the recipient of one Emmy and two Student Emmys. Her October 2016 arrest while filming an anti-fossil fuel protest in North Dakota led to a viral #freedeia social media campaign and an open letter to President Barack Obama co-signed by 30 celebrities. The arrest and subsequent charges put Deia at risk of 45 years in prison and contributed to a worrying pattern of attacks on journalistic freedom.
David Archambault II is the former (2013–2017) tribal chairman of the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in North Dakota. He was instrumental in the Dakota Access Pipeline protests and continues to work to promote an understanding of the historical treaty rights and indigenous rights of Native American people. Archambault holds degrees in Business Administration and Management. In 2017 he joined FirstNation HealthCare as its chief consulting officer.
LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, known as Tamakawastewin, was a Native American Dakota and Lakota historian, genealogist, and a matriarch of the water protector movement.
Water protectors are activists, organizers, and cultural workers focused on the defense of the world's water and water systems. The water protector name, analysis and style of activism arose from Indigenous communities in North America during the Dakota Access Pipeline protests at the Standing Rock Reservation, which began with an encampment on LaDonna Brave Bull Allard's land in April, 2016.
Police brutality is defined as the use of excessive force by law enforcement personnel while performing their official duties in an abusive and unjustified manner. Police brutality can also include psychological harm through the use of intimidation tactics beyond the scope of officially sanctioned police procedure.
#NODAPL, also referred to as the Dakota Access Pipeline protests, is a Twitter hashtag and social media campaign for the struggle against the proposed and partially built Dakota Access Pipeline. The role social media played in this movement is so substantial that the movement itself is now often referred to by its hashtag: #NoDAPL. The hashtag reflected a grassroots campaign that began in early 2016 in reaction to the approved construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline in the northern United States. The Standing Rock Sioux and allied organizations took legal action aimed at stopping construction of the project, while youth from the reservation began a social media campaign which gradually evolved into a larger movement with dozens of associated hashtags. The campaign aimed to raise awareness on the threat of the pipeline on the sacred burial grounds as well as the quality of water in the area. In June 2021, a federal judge struck down the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's lawsuit, but left the option of reopening the case should any prior orders be violated.
A member of Standing Rock in North and South Dakota, Phyllis Young has been an American Indian rights activist (Lakota/Dakota) for more than 40 years. She is most widely known for her leadership role in the anti-Dakota Access Pipeline struggle in 2016 and 2017. Young worked for Standing Rock from October 2015 to September 2017, ultimately as an organizer of the Oceti Sakowin Camp, where tens of thousands of protesters—known as “water protectors”—gathered over time to resist construction of the 1,172 mile long oil pipeline.
June Sapiel, a citizen of the Penobscot Nation, is a Native American activist and public speaker from Maine.
Jasilyn Charger is a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, from Eagle Butte, South Dakota, USA. Charger is a land activist, water protector, community organizer, and advocate for Native American and LGBTQ rights, and a youth founder of the Dakota Access Pipeline protests. They have also protested against the Keystone Pipeline, and were arrested for their non-violent civil disobedience in November 2020.
Amber Bracken is a Canadian photojournalist known for her reporting on issues affecting Indigenous peoples in North America.
Oyate is a 2022 American documentary film directed by Brandon Jackson and Emil Benjamin. The film follows Indigenous activists and politicians as they shed light on the Dakota Access Pipeline protests. Oyate had its world premiere at Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in 2022 and has been screened at multiple other festivals across the United States.
Awake: A Dream From Standing Rock is a 2017 documentary directed by Josh Fox, James Spione, and Myron Dewey. The three-part 89 minute documentary features events at Dakota Access Pipeline protests. The film was produced by Josh Fox and International WOW Company.
Myron Charles Dewey was a filmmaker and journalist from the Walker River Paiute Tribe.
