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Native Daughters is...

Native Daughters is a collection of stories, profiles and multimedia projects about a diverse group of Native American women. They are healers and warriors, story tellers and law makers, leaders, environmentalists and artists. It is our intention that these stories are just a starting point to learn about Native American women and we hope women across the country will join in and share their voice.

Valerie Red-Horse is an artist

Valerie Red-Horse has always written her own life script. In it, she’s played many roles: wife, mother, actress, director and CEO. Throughout it all, Red-Horse has managed to show the world who she is…and who she isn’t.

Read her story here »

Winona LaDuke is an environmentalist

Winona LaDuke addressed the UN at 18, graduated from Harvard, won human rights awards and even ran for vice-president on Ralph Nader’s Green Party ticket. While most of America still argues over problems of climate change, poverty and health care, LaDuke is grabbing her hoe and getting to work. And she has no time to be nice about it.

Read her story here »

Susan La Flesche is a healer

In 1889, Susan La Flesche Picotte became the first female Native doctor in the United States. Though her story might be long forgotten, her life’s work lives on.

Read her story here »

Danelle Smith is a law giver

Eighteen years ago, Danelle Smith was a 19-year-old half-breed on the Winnebago rez, pregnant and freaking out. Now, she’s a trailblazer in the world of tribal law.

Read her story here »

Cecilia Fire Thunder is a leader

Women are taking charge, crafting tribal policies and leading their people to a brighter future – leaders like Oglala Lakota former president Cecilia Fire Thunder, who speaks out about abuses against Native daughters that didn’t exist in the far past.

Read her story here »

Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve is a story teller

As Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve’s stories came to life, her life became her stories. Sneve has based nearly all of her published work on family moments, inspired by the rich heritage of oral storytelling traditions. In a voice that celebrates the past, she brings traditional Native values to the present.

Read her story here »

Darla Black is a warrior

Darla Black has been fighting for her entire life. Her resilient spirit has persevered through her struggles in male-dominated fields—defending her nation and her home in the army and tribal law enforcement to overcoming her own personal demons.

Read her story here »

Warriors

Darla Black epitomizes fearlessness in career, home life

Darla Black has been fighting her entire life. Her resilient spirit has persevered through her struggles in male-dominated fields—defending her nation and her home in the army and tribal law enforcement to overcoming her own personal demons.

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Powwow’s drums call to women warriors

“I hear the beat of the drum, straight down into my soul … and it’s quite a healing experience.”

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Native American women find cultural grounding in U.S. military

Being a Native American woman warrior is more than enlisting and leaving loved ones, and it’s more than learning to fire a weapon. It’s about courage, strength, sacrifice. For many, becoming a woman warrior wasn’t when they put on the uniform, but rather when they didn’t want to take it off.

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