Native American Women

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Christal QuintasketChristal Quintasket (Okanogan) was a Native American author in the United States best known for her 1927 novel Cogewea the Half-Blood: A Depiction of the Great Montana Cattle Range. Hum-Ishu-Ma (Mourning Dove) (Christal Quintasket) was born "in the Moon of Leaves" (April) 1888 in a canoe on the Kootenai River near Bonners Ferry, Idaho. Her mother Lucy Stukin was the daughter of Sinixt Chief Seewhelken and her mother was Colville. Christal spent much time with her maternal grandmother, learning storytelling from her. Christal's father was Joseph Quintasket, a mixed-race Okanagan.

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Mary Brave BirdMary Brave Bird, also known as Mary Brave Woman Olguin, Mary Crow Dog, Mary Ellen Moore-Richard (September 26, 1954 – February 14, 2013) was a Sicangu Lakota writer and activist who was a member of the American Indian Movement during the 1970s and participated in some of their most publicized events, including the Wounded Knee Incident when she was 18 years old.

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Gladys TantaquidgeonDr. Gladys Iola Tantaquidgeon (June 15, 1899 – November 1, 2005) (Mohegan) was a Tribal Medicine Woman, anthropologist, author, tribal council member, and elder. She worked with the Bureau of Indian Affairs for more than a decade beginning in 1934. She published several books about Native American traditional medicine and healing with plants. In 1994 she was inducted into the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame.

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Angel De Cora DietzAngel De Cora Dietz (1871–1919) was a Winnebago (Ho-Chunk) painter, illustrator, Native American rights advocate, and teacher at Carlisle Indian School. She was the best known Native American artist before World War I.
Hinook-Mahiwi-Kalinaka (Fleecy Cloud Floating in Place), was born at the Winnebago Agency in Dakota County (now Thurston), Nebraska, on May 3, the daughter of David Tall Decora, a Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) of French ancestry and a son of the Little Decorah, a hereditary chief. Angel was born into the Thunderbird clan; her English and Ho-Chunk names were chosen by a relative who was asked to name her, opened the Bible, and the word "angel" caught her eye. Her mother was a member of the influential LaMere family. She was kidnapped at a young age from the Agency, and sent to school in Hampton, Virginia. "A strange white man appeared on the reservation and asked her, through an interpreter, if she would like to ride on a steam car; with six other children, she decided to try it, and when the ride was ended she found herself in Hampton. '(It was) three years later when I returned to my mother' says Angel De Cora. 'she told me that for months she wept and mourned for me. My father and the old chief and his wife had died, and with them the old Indian life was gone.

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Waunetta McClellan DominicWaunetta McClellan Dominic (1921-1981)wholeheartedly endeavored to bring equality and justice to Native Americans in Michigan and throughout the United States.
In 1948 Dominic, her husband Robert, her father, and two other men founded the NMOA. For years, Ms. Dominic traveled across Michigan to determine the land values during the treaty years of 1821 and 1836. She searched for the descendants of the treaty signatories and urged them to sign affidavits verifying their eligibility for land claims. In 1968, Dominic and her husband initiated successful land claim suits which awarded $12 million to Ottawa and Chippewa descendants. In addition, $900,000 was awarded in 1971 to the descendants of the 1821 treaty signatories. As a member of the Grand River Band of Ottawas, she fought to ensure payment of $1.8 million for land claims on behalf of 2800 non-reservation Ottawa and Pottawatomie tribal members. Dominic served as president of the NMOA from 1976 until her death in 1981.

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Princess Red WingPrincess Red Wing was born on March 21, 1896 in Sprague, Connecticut. Her birth name was Mary E. Congdon. Her mother chose to call her Princess Red Wing after the red wing blackbird.
Her mother was Wampanoag and her father was Narragansett.
She was the co-founder and editor of The Narragansett Dawn tribal newspaper which was published from 1935 to 1936. She founded the only Native American museum in Rhode Island, the Tomaquag Indian Memorial Museum. From 1947 to 1970 she served as a member of the Speaker's Research Committee of the under secretariat of the United Nations.
In 1975 she was awarded an honorary doctorate of human affairs by the University of Rhode Island.
In 1978 she was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame.

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Minnie Spotted-WolfPrivate Minnie Spotted-Wolf (1923–1988) was the first Native American woman to enlist in the United States Marine Corps. She enlisted in the Marine Corps Women's Reserve in July 1943.

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Mitika WilburA Native American photographer, well on her way toward completing the monumental task of taking a picture of a member of each of the 566 widely scattered, endlessly diverse federally recognized tribes in the country--America's 'First Peoples.'
With just a camera, an RV and the financial contributions of strangers, Matika Wilbur is already on her second year of Project 562, so named because that was the number of recognized tribes when her adventure began.
The addition of four recognized tribes has done little to put out the flame of ambition that burns so brightly in the Washington State native, despite her daunting undertaking.
Wilbur is a member of the Tulalip tribe and grew up on the Swinomish Reservation before staking out to become a respected photogrpaher who's shown her work in museums and galleries across the United States, Canada and France.
'My name, Matika, means the messenger, and throughout my life, I have been groomed to approach the politics of our society differently--I am to influence social change not as a politician, but as an artist,' writes Wilbur on her Kickstarter campaign page. 'My hope, is that when the project is complete, it will serve to educate the nation and shift the collective consciousness toward recognizing our own indigenous communities.'

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LozenLozen (c. 1840-1890) was a skilled warrior and a prophetess of the Chihenne Chiricahua Apache. She was the sister of Victorio, a prominent chief. Born into the Chihenne band during the late 1840s, Lozen was, according to legends, able to use her powers in battle to learn the movements of the enemy. Victorio said, "Lozen is my right hand ... strong as a man, braver than most, and cunning in strategy. Lozen is a shield to her people".

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Jane JohnstonJane Johnston Schoolcraft (b. 1800–d. 1842) was the first known American Indian literary writer. She wrote poetry and short fiction and translated Ojibwe songs into English. Her Ojibwe name was Bamewawagezhikaquay, which she translated into English as Woman of the Sound the Stars Make Rushing through the Sky, a lyrical rather than a literal translation.

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Arizona Swayney Blankenship
Arizona Swayney (born 1875-1934) taught basket weaving at Hampton College in Virginia.
Zona was one of the highly esteemed and honorable citizens of the Reservation (Eastern Band of Cherokee Nation in North Carolina). Her work and achievements among her people will long be remembered by her neighbors, friends, acquaintances, her relatives and loved ones.....from The Smoky Mountain Indian Trail - March 21, 1934.

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Lucy TellesLucy Telles was a superb weaver who shared her love of basketmaking with many and whose work continues to fascinate admirers. Of mixed Miwok and Paiute heritage, she found economic success in selling her baskets to tourists in and around Yosemite Park. Her work modified traditional Miwok shapes and instead of restricting decoration to the typical geometric patterns, she incorporated large and often stylized pictorial elements. The use of black and red dyes on a single basket was also a change from the older forms. She taught many others to weave and influenced an entire generation of basketmakers.