Every year March is designated Women’s History Month by Presidential proclamation. The month is set aside to honor women’s contributions in American history. This year’s theme is “Valiant Women of the Vote: Refusing to Be Silenced.” You can find links to biographies, events, and programming to celebrate this important month here, including an inspiring online exhibition about Osage dancer Maria Tallchief: America’s Prima Ballerina.
We honor the Native women artists and culture bearers who we have been fortunate to support over the years. Their vision and voices have created dialogue and continue to bring awareness to contemporary issues of Indigenous women, social and political issues, and broadened historical and cultural knowledge through the lens of Native arts and cultures.
Bernice Akamine – Native Hawaiian; Jackie Larson Bread – Blackfeet (Amskapi Pikuni); Nani Chacon – Diné; Kaili Chun – Native Hawaiian; Kelly Church – Grand Traverse Band Ottawa Chippewa; Melissa S. Cody – Navajo/Diné; Amelia Cornelius (1938-2016) – Oneida Tribe of Wisconsin; Laura Da’ – Eastern Shawnee/Seneca/Miami; Natalie Diaz – Mojave/Pima; Heid E. Erdrich – Ojibwe/Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa; RYAN! Feddersen – Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation; Kelli Jo Ford – Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma; Shan Goshorn (1957-2018) – Eastern Band Cherokee; Raiatea Helm – Native Hawaiian; Melissa Henry – Navajo; Luzene Hill – Eastern Band of Cherokee; Thea Hopkins – Aquinnah Wampanoag; Linda Hogan – Chickasaw Nation; Lily Hope – Tlingit; Lani Hotch– Chilkat Indian Village; Emily Johnson – Yup’ik; Robi Kahakalau – Native Hawaiian; Starr Kalāhiki – Native Hawaiian; Lehua Kalima – Native Hawaiian; Kaumakaiwa Kanaka’ole – Native Hawaiian; Kaui Kanaka’ole – Native Hawaiian; Joan Naviyuk Kane – Iñupiaq; Sonya Kelliher-Combs – Iñupiaq/Athabaskan; Kathleen Carlo Kendall – Koyukon Athabascan; Ciara Leina`ala Lacy – Kanaka Maoli; Kapulani Landgraf – NativeHawaiian; Courtney M. Leonard – Shinnecock; Layli Long Soldier – Oglala Lakota; Linda Infante Lyons – Alutiiq; Brenda Mallory – Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma; Christen Marquez – Native Hawaiian; Nora Naranjo Morse – Santa Clara Pueblo-Tewa; TahNibaa Naataanii – Diné (Navajo); Laura Ortman – White Mountain Apache; Susan Power – Yanktonai Dakota; Martha Redbone – Cherokee/Choctaw; Clarissa Rizal (1956-2016) – Tlingit T’ak Dein Taan Raven Clan; Teri Rofkar (1956-2016 ) – Tlingit; Abigail Romanchak – Native Hawaiian; Cara Romero – Chemehuevi; Theresa Secord – Penobscot Nation; Rosy Simas – Seneca; Rose Simpson – Santa Clara Pueblo; Jennifer M. Stevens – Oneida/Lakota; April Stone – Bad River Band of Lake Superior; Aurolyn Renee Stwyer – Celilo – Warm Springs/Wasco; Brooke Swaney – Blackfeet/Salish; Luci Tapahonso – Diné (Navajo); Vicky Holt Takamine – Native Hawaiian; Dalani Tanahy – Native Hawaiian; Lisa Telford – Haida; Maggie Thompson – Fond du Lac Band of Minnesota; Erica Tremblay – Seneca-Cayuga Nation; Anna Tsouhlarakis – Navajo/Creek; Allison Akootchook Warden – Iñupiaq, Native Village of Kaktovik; Marie Watt – Seneca; Delina White – Ojibwe; Dyani White Hawk – Sicangu Lakota (Rosebud Sioux); Laura Wong-Whitebear – Colville/Sinixt; and, Elizabeth Woody – Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, Oregon, of Yakama Nation Wasco descent, and is “born for” the Tódích’íinii (Bitter Water clan) of the Navajo Nation.