LaDuke, Winona
Winona LaDuke
Winona LaDuke is a prominent American economist, environmentalist, author, and industrial hemp cultivator. She is celebrated for her extensive contributions to tribal land rights, environmental preservation, and sustainable development. Her impact on the national stage includes two runs for Vice President of the United States, representing the Green Party of the United States in 1996 and 2000. LaDuke’s commitment to environmental advocacy is further evident through her role as the Executive Director and Co-Founder of Honor the Earth, an Indigenous environmental organization she established with the Indigo Girls.
LaDuke, Winona. 2023. Last standing woman. Portage & Main Press.
LaDuke, Winona, & Cowen, D. 2020. Beyond wiindigo infrastructure. South Atlantic Quarterly, 119(2), 243-268.
LaDuke, Winona. 2005. Recovering the sacred: The power of naming and claiming. South End Press.
LaDuke, Winona. 1999. All our relations: Native struggles for land and life. South End Press.
LaDuke, Winona. 1994. Traditional ecological knowledge and enviromental futures. Colo. J. Int’l Envtl. L. & Pol’y, 5, 127.
Winona LaDuke, whose name “Winona” translates to “first daughter” in the Dakota language, was born in 1959 in Los Angeles, California. She was born to Betty Bernstein and Vincent LaDuke, who later adopted the name Sun Bear. Her father hailed from the Ojibwe White Earth Reservation in Minnesota, while her mother had a Jewish European heritage and was originally from The Bronx, New York. Due to her father’s heritage, she was formally enrolled with the White Earth Nation at birth. Her father brought her to tribal functions, such as powwows, that deeply impressed LaDuke. While she spent part of her childhood in Los Angeles, she spent her formative years in Ashland, Oregon.
After her parents’ marriage, Vincent LaDuke pursued a career as an actor in Hollywood, often in supporting roles in Western films, while Betty LaDuke continued her academic pursuits. LaDuke’s parents separated when she was five, and her mother secured a position as an art instructor at Southern Oregon College, now known as Southern Oregon University. In 1964, LaDuke and her mother moved to Ashland, a small town near the California border with a strong presence of logging and academia. In the 1980s, Vincent transformed into a New Age spiritual leader known as Sun Bear.
During her upbringing in Ashland, LaDuke attended the local public school and actively participated in the high school’s debate team. She pursued her higher education at Harvard University, where she connected with a group of Indigenous activists. In 1982, she earned her Bachelor of Arts in economics, focusing on rural economic development. In 1989, LaDuke completed a Master of Arts in Community Economic Development through Antioch University’s distance-learning program.
After graduating college, LaDuke, a proud Anishinaabekwe enrolled member of the Mississippi Band Anishinaabeg, moved to the White Earth Reservation in 1982 to be a principal at the local high school. This was her first time living on any reservation, and she was unfamiliar with the Ojibwe language and many of the community members. Her acceptance within the community did not happen immediately. While serving as the principal of the local high school on the Minnesota reservation, she researched for her master’s thesis, delving into the reservation’s subsistence economy and immersing herself in local issues.
While principal, LaDuke became embroiled in a lawsuit initiated by the Anishinaabeg people, aimed at reclaiming lands promised to them by an 1867 federal treaty. This treaty had originally granted the White Earth Reservation a vast 837,000 acres. Still, due to government policies, over 90 percent of this land had been seized by lumber companies and non-Native groups by 1934. Regrettably, after four years of litigation, the lawsuit was dismissed.
The setback of this legal battle fueled LaDuke’s unwavering commitment to protecting Native lands. In 1985, she played a pivotal role in founding and co-chairing the Indigenous Women’s Network (IWN), a coalition comprised of 400 Native women activists and groups. This powerful alliance was formed with the dual purpose of elevating the visibility of Native women and empowering them to assume active roles in tribal politics and culture. The IWN tirelessly strives to safeguard Indigenous religious and cultural practices while also working towards the reclamation of Indigenous lands and the sustainable management of their natural resources.
In 1989, she founded the White Earth Land Recovery Project (WELRP), funded by the Reebok Foundation for her outstanding human rights work. The WELRP is committed to repurchasing reservation land previously acquired by non-Native individuals to foster sustainable development and economic opportunities for the Native population. It has since grown to become one of the largest reservation-based nonprofits in the country.
WELRP’s sustainable development initiatives encompass renewable energy projects, indigenous farming practices, local food systems, and improved sanitation measures. The organization harnesses the acquired land to generate wind energy, safeguards the local wild rice crop against patenting and genetic engineering, promotes the consumption of traditional foods to combat rising rates of Type 2 diabetes in the community, and operates a diaper service that reduces both waste from disposable diapers and financial burdens. The organization raises funds to support these vital programs by selling traditional crafts, jewelry, and food.
Even as she dedicated herself to the WELRP’s mission, LaDuke continued her advocacy work with the Indigenous Women’s Network. In the early 1990s, she collaborated with the musical group Indigo Girls to organize a national concert series to raise awareness among young people about Native issues. In 1993, LaDuke and the Indigo Girls co-founded Honor the Earth, an advocacy and fundraising group devoted to supporting Native environmental organizations. Since its inception, Honor the Earth has provided over two million dollars in grants to more than 200 Native American communities.
LaDuke’s political activism extends to her two runs for Vice President of the United States on the Green Party’s presidential ticket, with Ralph Nader as the presidential nominee in 1996 and 2000. The Green Party, emphasizing grassroots democracy and ecological sustainability, won 0.7 percent of the vote in 1996 and 2.7 percent in 2000. LaDuke played a pivotal role in raising awareness of Green Party issues.
Throughout her remarkable career, LaDuke has garnered numerous accolades for her advocacy work. In 1994, Time magazine recognized her as one of the “Fifty Leaders for the Future.” In 1998, Ms. Magazine included LaDuke as one of their “Women of the Year.” Her dedication was further acknowledged with an honorary doctorate from Minnesota’s Augsburg College in 2015 and the prestigious Alice and Clifford Spendlove Prize in Social Justice, Diplomacy, and Tolerance from the University of California in 2017.
As an accomplished author and co-author of multiple books addressing issues facing the Native American community, LaDuke’s work, such as “Native Struggles for Land and Life” (1999, reprinted 2016), serves as a testament to her dedication to the resistance against cultural and environmental threats faced by Indigenous communities.
In 2014, LaDuke stepped down as the Executive Director of the White Earth Land Recovery Project. Her unwavering commitment to Native Americans’ environmental interests remains resolute. She played a prominent role in the 2016 Dakota Access Pipeline protests, advocating for the protection of water access and sacred Indigenous lands in North Dakota.
In 2016, LaDuke, thanks to a faithless elector in Washington State, achieved a historic milestone by receiving an electoral vote for the office of Vice President. This significant achievement marked her as the first Green Party member to secure an electoral vote, underscoring her influence and prominence in American politics.
LaDuke, a mother of six grown children (three biological and three adopted), dedicates much of her time to farming. Located on the White Earth reservation, her farm specializes in growing heritage vegetables and hemp. LaDuke actively promotes the environmental advantages of hemp, which requires less water to grow than cotton, has the potential to replace petroleum-based synthetics in clothing and other products, and acts as a carbon sink, absorbing carbon from the atmosphere. Her latest endeavor, Winona’s Hemp & Heritage Farm, operates as both a farm and a nonprofit agency with a mission to establish an Indigenous women-led economy based on local food, energy, and fiber while preserving the environment.
LaDuke, a tireless Native American activist, economist, and accomplished author, has dedicated her life to advocating for the sovereignty of Indigenous people over their ancestral lands, natural resources, and cultural heritage. Her work harmoniously blends economic and environmental approaches to foster thriving and sustainable communities, benefiting her White Earth reservation and Indigenous populations across the nation.
Brandman, Mariana. (2021, April). Winona LaDuke. https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/winona-laduke.
Survey and interviews conducted by Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Sustainability Initiative staff. 2022-2023. Yale University-School of the Environment. New Haven, Connecticut.
Winona LaDuke. (2023, August 21). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winona_LaDuke