Winona LaDuke

 "The Earth is our Mother.  From her we get our life, and our ability to live.  It is our responsibility to care for our mother, and in caring for our Mother, we care for ourselves.  Women, all females are the manifestation of Mother Earth in human form."
-United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women
Beijing, China. August 31, 1995

 Winona LaDuke is a strong activist for a variety of social issues, namely Indian and environmental issues.  This strong and powerful woman has no doubt lead an eventful life.  LaDuke was born in 1959 and was raised in Los Angeles.  From a very young age Winona demonstrated her passion for activism.  LaDuke increased her enthusiasm while she attended Harvard.  After she graduated with a degree in economic development in 1982, LaDuke moved to the White Earth reservation in northern Minnesota.  LaDuke is an Anishinabe from the particular clan that resides on the White Earth Reservation.  Simultaneously, LaDuke became an active participant in a law suit concerning this Reservation.  She pursued the recovery of original Anishinabe land that the federal government had, in fact, stolen.  The desired results were not gained in the law suit, thus, LaDuke founded the White Earth Land Recovery Project.  This is an organization that raises funds to ultimately buy back White Earth land. (Porter)  Evidently, Winona never was one to let opportunities pass buy.  It is also evident that LaDuke was possesses talents of an activist in the political arena, for this reason, in 1996 she was vice-presidential candidate for the Green party.  Winona's strong background in promoting Indian, environmental, indigenous, and women's issues, naturally gave strength to the Green party's campaign.  In her own right, LaDuke previously won the International Reebok Human Rights Award in 1989, and then went on to be named on the of the "50 leaders for the future" by Time Magazine in 1995.  (ratical.org)  Currently, LaDuke lives on the White Earth Reservation and is still very active.  Winona has a strong affinity towards spirituality and much of her writings represents this.  LaDuke is very much in-tuned that the world and everything in it is connected, thus, we all must treat everyone and everything with benevolent kindness. The destruction of the environment ultimately causes the destruction of ourselves. (Walljasper)  LaDuke is a strong activist, and she addresses issues that often times get overlooked.  Her work is important for this reason.  It is astonishing what one activist can do.
Education
-Graduate of Harvard University, 1982

Activist History
-Founded the Indigenous Women's Network
-1996 Green party vice-presidential candidate
-She is actively involved with the Chippewa people of N. Minnesota and White Earth Land Recovery Project
-Program Director for the Honor the Earth Fund

Some of LaDuke's Works
Last Standing Woman (1997)
All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life (1999)
 

Works Cited

 Mojo Wire. "Celebrating Hellraisers: Winona LaDuke." Jay Walljasper. <http://www.motherjones.com/mother_jones/JF96anniversary/laduke.html>

 Nader 2000. "The Indigenous Women's Network Our Future, Our Responsibility" Statement of Winona LaDuke. Aug.1995. <http://www.votenader.org/laduke/beijing.html>

 ratical.org. "Winona Laduke: Reconciling Our Relationship With ALL Our Relatives." <http://www.ratical.org/co-globilize/WinonaLaDuke/>

 Voices From the Gaps: Women Writers of Color. "Winona LaDuke." Kelly Porter. Feb. 1998. <http://voices.cla.umn.edu/authors/WinonaLaduke.html>