Native American women in politics

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Native American women have played significant roles in politics, both within their tribal nations and in broader American political life. Their involvement spans from traditional governance systems to participation in local, state, and national levels of government in the United States. These contributions have been shaped by historical, cultural, and legal factors, particularly the intersection of Native sovereignty and U.S. political structures.

Contents

History

Zitkala-Sa American Indian Stories.jpg
Zitkala-Ša c. 1921, co-founder of the National Council of American Indians
LaDonna Harris.jpg
LaDonna Harris in 1980, founder of Americans for Indian Opportunity

Before European colonization of the United States, many Native American tribes practiced matriarchal or egalitarian governance systems where women held significant power in decision-making, clan leadership, and property rights. [1] In several tribes, such as the Iroquois Confederacy, women played an influential role in political processes, including selecting leaders and making important tribal decisions. [1]

The arrival of European settlers disrupted these traditional structures through colonization, forced assimilation policies, and the establishment of the U.S. government's legal frameworks, which often excluded Native women from formal political participation. [2] Despite these challenges, Native American women continued to assert their influence within their communities and, over time, in the broader U.S. political system. [2]

In the early 20th century, Native American women became active in advocating for civil rights, including citizenship and voting rights. [3] The Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 granted U.S. citizenship to Native Americans, but many states continued to deny Native people, including women, the right to vote until after the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. [3] Native women like Zitkala-Ša pushed for greater rights. [4] Zitkala-Ša, a Yankton Dakota Sioux writer and activist, co-founded the National Council of American Indians in 1926, where she advocated for Native sovereignty, education reform, and women's rights. [4]

The mid-20th century saw a resurgence of Native American political activism, particularly during the American Indian Movement (AIM) of the 1960s and 1970s. [5] Native women participated actively in these movements, calling attention to issues like treaty rights, land reclamation, and cultural preservation. [5] During this era, Native women also began to take on more prominent roles in national politics. [6] For example, LaDonna Harris, a Comanche activist, founded Americans for Indian Opportunity (AIO) in 1970, which focused on advancing the political, economic, and cultural rights of Indigenous peoples. [6] Wilma Mankiller, a member of the Cherokee Nation, rose to national prominence as the first female chief of the Cherokee Nation, serving from 1985 to 1995. [7] Mankiller's leadership focused on self-governance, community development, and improving the status of women within the tribe. [7]

Native American women in federal and state politics

Cora Reynolds Anderson in 1924, first Native American woman state legislator Cora Reynolds Anderson.png
Cora Reynolds Anderson in 1924, first Native American woman state legislator
Sharice Davids (cropped).jpg
Sharice Davids, U.S. representative
Secretary Deb Haaland, official headshot.jpg
Deb Haaland, U.S. Secretary of the Interior

Native American women have increasingly held elected positions at the state and federal levels, representing a wide range of tribes and political perspectives. [8] [9] In 1924, Cora Reynolds Anderson became the first Native American woman to secure a seat in a state legislature. [10] Sharice Davids, a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation, and Deb Haaland, a member of the Laguna Pueblo, made history in 2018 when they became the first Native American women elected to the U.S. Congress. [8] Both Davids and Haaland emphasized issues of Native sovereignty, healthcare, and environmental protection during their campaigns. [9]

In August 2019, principal chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. appointed Kimberly Teehee as the Cherokee Nation's first-ever delegate to the United States House of Representatives. [11] In 2021, Victoria Holland was selected by the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians as a congressional delegate, arguing they hold the same rights as the Cherokee Nation and Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians to do so. [12]

In 2021, Haaland became the first Native American to serve as a Cabinet secretary when she was appointed as the United States Secretary of the Interior by U.S. president Joe Biden. [13] In this role, she has been responsible for managing public lands, overseeing relations with Native American tribes, and addressing environmental challenges such as climate change. [14] In 2022, Mary Peltola became the first Alaska Native member of Congress. [15] [16]

At the state level, Native American women have also made significant strides. [17] Denise Juneau, a member of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation, served as the Superintendent of Public Instruction of the State of Montana and was the first Native American woman to win a statewide executive position. [17] Her work focused on improving education for all Montanans, with a particular emphasis on Indigenous students. [17]

Contemporary activism and challenges

Activists for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) at the 2018 Women's March in San Francisco Women's March SF 20180120-9762.jpg
Activists for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) at the 2018 Women's March in San Francisco

Native American women remain key figures in addressing a variety of political and social issues, including healthcare disparities, missing and murdered Indigenous women (MMIW), environmental protection, and tribal sovereignty. [18] Many Native women politicians and activists continue to highlight the unique challenges facing Native communities, particularly those living in rural and remote areas. [19] The MMIW movement has gained significant national attention, largely due to the efforts of Native women activists and lawmakers. [20] The issue of violence against Native women, exacerbated by legal complexities involving jurisdiction on tribal lands, has led to calls for legal reforms and increased federal support. [20]

Native American women face obstacles to political participation. [21] Structural inequalities, including the underfunding of Native communities, lack of access to education, and geographic isolation, pose significant challenges. [21] Native women often navigate complex dual political identities, balancing their roles within tribal governance systems and the broader U.S. political framework. [21]

Furthermore, political representation for Native American women remains limited, with few holding elected office compared to other demographic groups. [6] However, efforts to increase voter turnout in Native communities, improve representation in political bodies, and address the systemic barriers to participation are ongoing. [6]

Notable Native American women in politics

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zitkala-Sa</span> Yankton Dakota writer (1876–1938)

Zitkala-Ša, also Zitkála-Šá, was a Yankton Dakota writer, editor, translator, musician, educator, and political activist. She was also known by her Anglicized and married name, Gertrude Simmons Bonnin. She wrote several works chronicling her struggles with cultural identity, and the pull between the majority culture in which she was educated, and the Dakota culture into which she was born and raised. Her later books were among the first works to bring traditional Native American stories to a widespread white English-speaking readership.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tribal sovereignty in the United States</span> Type of political status of Native Americans

Tribal sovereignty in the United States is the concept of the inherent authority of Indigenous tribes to govern themselves within the borders of the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wilma Mankiller</span> Cherokee Nation chief and activist (1945–2010)

Wilma Pearl Mankiller was a Native American activist, social worker, community developer and the first woman elected to serve as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. Born in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, she lived on her family's allotment in Adair County, Oklahoma, until the age of 11, when her family relocated to San Francisco as part of a federal government program to urbanize Indigenous Americans. After high school, she married a well-to-do Ecuadorian and raised two daughters. Inspired by the social and political movements of the 1960s, Mankiller became involved in the Occupation of Alcatraz and later participated in the land and compensation struggles with the Pit River Tribe. For five years in the early 1970s, she was employed as a social worker, focusing mainly on children's issues.

Non-voting members of the United States House of Representatives are representatives of their territory in the House of Representatives, who do not have a right to vote on legislation in the full House but nevertheless have floor privileges and are able to participate in certain other House functions. Non-voting members may vote in a House committee of which they are a member and introduce legislation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians</span> Federally recognized tribe based in Oklahoma

The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma is a federally recognized tribe of Cherokee Native Americans headquartered in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. According to the UKB website, its members are mostly descendants of "Old Settlers" or "Western Cherokees," those Cherokees who migrated from the Southeast to present-day Arkansas and Oklahoma around 1817. Some reports estimate that Old Settlers began migrating west by 1800, before the forced relocation of Cherokees by the United States in the late 1830s under the Indian Removal Act.

Jesse Bartley Milam (1884–1949) was best known as the first Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation appointed by a U.S. president since tribal government had been dissolved before Oklahoma Statehood in 1907. He was appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941, who reappointed him in 1942 and 1943; he was reappointed by President Harry S. Truman in 1948. He died while in office in 1949.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cherokee Nation</span> Native American tribe in Oklahoma, United States

The Cherokee Nation, formerly known as the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, is the largest of three federally recognized tribes of Cherokees in the United States. It includes people descended from members of the Old Cherokee Nation who relocated, due to increasing pressure, from the Southeast to Indian Territory and Cherokees who were forced to relocate on the Trail of Tears. The tribe also includes descendants of Cherokee Freedmen and Natchez Nation. As of 2024, over 466,000 people were enrolled in the Cherokee Nation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Congress of American Indians</span> Native American rights organization

The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) is an American Indian and Alaska Native rights organization. It was founded in 1944 to represent the tribes and resist U.S. federal government pressure for termination of tribal rights and assimilation of their people. These were in contradiction of their treaty rights and status as sovereign entities. The organization continues to be an association of federally recognized and state-recognized Indian tribes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kimberly Teehee</span> Cherokee political advisor from Oklahoma

Kimberly Teehee is a Cherokee attorney, politician, and activist on Native American issues. She is a Delegate-designate to the U.S. House of Representatives from the Cherokee Nation. She served as senior policy advisor for Native American affairs in the administration of President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2012. In February 2020, she was named by Time as one of 16 activists fighting for a "More Equal America."

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Council of American Indians</span>

The National Council of American Indians(NCAI) was established in February 1926. This organization's purpose was to advocate for Native American rights and representation before the United States government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keith Harper (lawyer)</span> Lawyer, ambassador

Keith Michael Harper is an American attorney and diplomat who was the first Native American to ever receive the rank of a U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Council. He is a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and as a lawyer he is known for working on behalf of Native Americans. He was, from June 2014 to January 2017, the U.S. representative to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sharice Davids</span> American attorney & politician (born 1980)

Sharice Lynnette Davids is an American attorney, former mixed martial artist, and politician serving as the U.S. representative from Kansas's 3rd congressional district since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, she represents a district that includes most of the Kansas side of the Kansas City metropolitan area, including Kansas City, Overland Park, Prairie Village, Leawood, Lenexa, and Olathe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Women quarters</span> Series of US coins

The American Women quarters program is a series of quarters featuring notable women in U.S. history, commemorating the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The United States Mint is issuing five designs each year from 2022 to 2025 for 20 total designs. One woman will be honored on the reverse of each coin, selected for "contributions to the United States in a wide spectrum of accomplishments and fields, including but not limited to suffrage, civil rights, abolition, government, humanities, science, space, and arts." The obverse depicts George Washington with a new design. Most of the women featured have been from ethnic minority groups.

The Cherokee delegate to the United States House of Representatives is an office established via the Treaty of New Echota in 1835. The office was intended to represent the Cherokee people and was instrumental in negotiations of land transfer and sovereignty in the Treaty. The office went vacant until 2019, with the appointment of Kimberly Teehee of the Cherokee Nation. Teehee and tribal leadership attempted to get her seated in the 116th and 117th United States Congresses. In 2021, the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians designated their own delegate, lawyer Victoria Holland.

References

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  9. 1 2 Reilly, Katie (2018-11-07). "Democrats in Kansas, New Mexico Become First Native American Women Elected to Congress". TIME. Retrieved 2024-09-13.
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  13. 1 2 Fears, Darryl (March 15, 2021). "Haaland confirmed by Senate as first Native American to lead Interior". Washington Post. Retrieved 2024-09-13.
  14. ↑ Rott, Nathan (February 23, 2021). "Interior Nominee Deb Haaland Faces Tough Questions On Climate Goals". NPR. Retrieved 2024-09-13.
  15. 1 2 Jonassen, Text Trine. "Mary Peltola, First Alaska Native in US Congress, Secures Full Term". www.highnorthnews.com.
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  18. ↑ Deer, Sarah (2015). The Beginning and End of Rape: Confronting Sexual Violence in Native America. University of Minnesota Press. doi:10.5749/j.ctt17w8gfr. ISBN   978-0-8166-9633-8.
  19. ↑ Rosay, André B. (2016). "Violence Against American Indian and Alaska Native Women and Men" (PDF). National Institute of Justice . Retrieved 2024-09-13.
  20. 1 2 Tsosie, Rebecca (2003). "Tribalism, Constiutionalism, and Cultural Pluralism: Where do Indigenous Peoples Fit Within Civil Society". University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law. 5 (2): 357. ISSN   1521-2823.
  21. 1 2 3 Martinez, Donna (2020). Native Women’s Political Activism: Women of Color Pressing for Racial Equality in Washington. Lexington Books.
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  30. ↑ "Indigenous leaders elected". Ict News. November 9, 2022. Retrieved 2022-11-10.
  31. ↑ "Designers Responsible for Their Creations". The Dispatch. 1983-05-08. p. 6. Retrieved 2024-09-13.
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