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...A Forum for American Indian Issues...
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American Indian women 
Wed Sep 15, 2010 at 18:50:27 PM PDT
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( - promoted by navajo)
American Indians were involved in trade for thousands of years prior to the arrival of the European and American fur traders. Traditional Indian trade was about relationships as much as it was about the material which was traded. In order to trade, a person needed to have trading partners, primarily relatives. An individual gained these trading partners through marriage and/or by being adopted into a family. The first fur traders quickly understood this and subsequently they usually married women from the tribes with whom they carried on trade.
In 1829, Fort Union, located on the boundary between Montana and North Dakota, was established as a trading post for the American Fur Company at the request of Iron Arrow Point, an Assiniboine chief. It soon became a trading center for many of the Northern Plains tribes, including the Blackfoot, Crow, Cree, Ojibwa, and Hidatsa. In order to strengthen their trade relations with these tribes, all of the traders took Indian wives, thus creating a web of alliances. This type of alliance was generally called a country marriage (le marriage á la façon du pays).
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Sat Jul 17, 2010 at 17:02:01 PM PDT
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( - promoted by navajo)
The United States government and American historians have been as reluctant to acknowledge women leaders among Indian nations as they have been acknowledging women warriors. The fact is that many Indian nations have had women leaders. In the many treaty councils which the United States held with the Indian nations, it was unusual for the United States to allow Indian women to speak.
In 1831, when the Sauk returned to their traditional village of Saukenuk in Illinois, the Americans called up a force of 700 militia volunteers to protect the citizens of the state from the Sauk invasion. The Sauk were determined to remain peaceful and met in council with the Americans. The Americans wanted the Sauk to move to new lands west of the Mississippi River. Black Hawk informed General Gaines that the women own the fields, not the men. The Sauk then selected a woman to speak for them. She told the Americans that the women owned the fields, not the tribe, and that the women had never sold any of the land nor consented to the transfer of it to the United States. Gaines simply dismissed her comments saying that the President did not send him to make treaties with women nor to hold council with them.
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Fri Jul 16, 2010 at 08:39:55 AM PDT
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( - promoted by navajo)
When the Europeans first began arriving on this continent they were amazed that Indian women were very much unlike European women. Indian women were not subservient to men, they often engaged in work - such as farming and warfare - which the Europeans viewed as men's work, they had a voice in the political life of their communities, and they had control of their own bodies and sexuality. Unlike the patriarchal European societies, Indians were often matrilineal, a system in which people belonged to their mother's clans or extended families. When Indian people spoke of a neighboring tribe as "women" or as "grandmothers", the Europeans often misinterpreted this compliment as a derogatory statement.
During the nineteenth century Indian women, and particularly Indian women leaders, were invisible to the American government. Some Indians have gone so far as to say that the Americans were so afraid of Indian women that they would not allow them to sit or speak in treaty councils with the United States government. Even today, Indian women are conspicuous by their absence in American history.
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Sun Apr 04, 2010 at 09:28:13 AM PDT
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When European colonists first began arriving in North America they were often startled to find that American Indian women were not the property of their husbands. The Europeans were often shocked by the fact that American Indian women freely expressed their sexuality, that they took active leadership roles in their societies, and there were few limits and what they could do. In the subsequent centuries, American Indian women do not often appear in the standard histories. What follows is a short biography of a Creek woman who was both an entrepreneur and a leader.
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Tue Mar 30, 2010 at 10:24:06 AM PDT
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( - promoted by navajo)
Christine Quintasket, writing under the name Mourning Dove, was the first American Indian woman to write a novel. Cogewea: The Half-Blood had actually been completed in 1916, but it took another decade to find a publisher for it. The novel remained an obscure piece of Native American literature until it was repub¬lished in 1981.
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Mon Dec 21, 2009 at 20:16:54 PM PST
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( - promoted by navajo)
This the annual fundraising diary for the Pretty Bird Woman House, a women's shelter on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, which the Daily Kos community has supported since 2007, when we came together and not only prevented the shelter from going under, but bought it an entire house. It was an incredible thing to see this community do. This is a good time to remember that, to remind ourselves of what we can accomplish when we unite instead of fight.
For those of you who aren't familiar with the history of our involvement with the shelter, I will direct you to a post that Andy T wrote on the Pretty Bird Woman House blog, which pretty much summed up our efforts then.
the shelter, which includes a general (tax deductible) fund for the shelter, and a separate one for gift cards for the staff (not deductible).
This year, for reasons I will tell you about in the update below, I'm just doing a ChipIn for the staff. General donations (the tax deductible kind) can still be made by check, but not on-line.
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Wed Jan 30, 2008 at 14:55:59 PM PST
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( - promoted by navajo)
Cross posted from the Daily Kos
First of all, I want to express my deepest gratitude to all the Kossacks and other members of the netroots community for your commitment to the survival of the Pretty Bird Woman House. Helping this shelter has been one of the most gratifying things I've ever done, and some of that has to do with the outpouring of caring and compassion that I witnessed while I was doing this project.
This morning I received an email informing me that the McLaughlin City Council had unanimously approved the shelter's petition to operate in the house it wants to purchase. This was a wonderful accomplishment given some initial misgivings that some of the City Council Members had expressed.
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Fri Dec 07, 2007 at 12:17:23 PM PST
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( - promoted by navajo)
I thought I'd give you an update on what was going on with the fundraiser for this shelter. Georgia Little Shield, the director, has used the money we have raised so far to place a bid on the house you see in the photos below.
We need donations urgently right now since there was only enough money for a really low bid, so that makes things still a bit tenuous. And then there will be closing costs and a security system. But even though we haven't sealed the deal yet, we're coming very close!
The amazing part of this project is that the individual efforts of a bunch of bloggers are making such a big difference to a group of women. This is what a community is really about. And were else can you see donations doing something so huge so fast?
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| In Memoriam |
In honor of my mother, THE FLORA SOMBRERO LIND NAVAJO ENDOWMENT FUND has been set up to accept your donations.
This scholarship endowment has been established at the American Indian College Fund to honor Flora Sombrero Lind, as an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation who was born at Inscription House, Arizona of the Many Goats clan circa 1925. This scholarship endowment is funded by Flora's family and friends who want to see Navajo students pursue higher education and carry on their great Navajo heritage.
Please leave a comment here if you donate.
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- Please specify what your donation is for in the notes section of the PayPal window. Either propane for Pine Ridge or Rosebud or Hosting fees for this blog. --navajo
If you like to help Aji and Wings please mail a check to them at the address here:
wingssilverwork.com
Click the contact tab for address.
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Native American
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...a forum for the discussion of political, social and economic issues affecting the indigenous peoples of the United States, including their lack of political representation, economic deprivation, health care issues, and the on-going struggle for preservation of identity and cultural history
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