Women of All Red Nations

Women of All Red Nations is a Native American and First Nations women's activist organization formed in the 1970s to address health, sovereignty, cultural survival, and environmental issues affecting Indigenous women across North America. The coalition emerged amid broader movements including the American Indian Movement, Native American Rights Fund, International Indian Treaty Council, Trail of Broken Treaties, and intersected with feminist organizations such as National Organization for Women and international bodies like the United Nations.

History and Founding

Women of All Red Nations originated during a period shaped by events and groups including the Wounded Knee Occupation, Alcatraz Occupation, Red Power movement, Trail of Broken Treaties, and the activism of figures such as Russell Means, Dennis Banks, Vine Deloria Jr., Wilma Mankiller, and Buffy Sainte-Marie. Founders and early organizers drew on networks linking Pine Ridge, Rosebud, Navajo Nation, Black Hills activists, and campus groups like Native American Student Association, while engaging with legal advocates from the Native American Rights Fund and policy makers in the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The organization formed as a response to crises highlighted by investigations involving Indian Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and courts such as the Supreme Court of the United States decisions that affected tribal sovereignty, referencing treaties like the Fort Laramie Treaty (1868) and historical events such as the Massacre at Wounded Knee (1890).

Goals and Activities

Women of All Red Nations pursued goals including reproductive justice in the wake of practices tied to institutions like the Indian Health Service, environmental protection against projects such as uranium mining and pipelines exemplified by controversies like the Dakota Access Pipeline, and cultural preservation through language and ceremony linked to nations including Lakota, Sioux, Ojibwe, Cree, and Hopi. Activities ranged from public health campaigns engaging with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization to coalitions with groups like the National Congress of American Indians, American Indian Movement, Native American Church, National Urban Indian Family Coalition, and cross-border alliances with the Assembly of First Nations and Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami.

Key Campaigns and Protests

The group organized campaigns against sterilization practices associated with the Indian Health Service and testified before entities comparable to congressional committees such as the United States Senate Committee on Indian Affairs and the United States House Committee on Natural Resources. Protests and direct actions connected them to larger events like the Wounded Knee Occupation (1973), the Trail of Broken Treaties (1972), and environmental mobilizations against projects akin to Three Mile Island accident responses and anti-uranium campaigns at sites tied to the Navajo Nation and Black Hills. They worked alongside activists such as Winona LaDuke, Phyllis Young, Margee Ensign, Luther Standing Bear, and allied with legal efforts by the Native American Rights Fund, litigation before federal courts including the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and advocacy within forums like the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

Organizational Structure and Leadership

Leadership drew from a mix of grassroots organizers, traditional leaders, and allied legal and academic figures including Winona LaDuke, Phyllis Young, Margee Ensign, Grace Thorpe, and regional coordinators from communities such as Pine Ridge, Navajo Nation, Rosebud, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, and Standing Rock. Structure combined local chapters and national coordinating bodies, collaborating with institutions like the National Congress of American Indians, Native American Rights Fund, American Indian Movement, Indigenous Women's Network, non-governmental organizations such as Greenpeace and Sierra Club on environmental campaigns, and researchers from universities including University of New Mexico, University of Arizona, Harvard University, and University of California, Berkeley.

Impact and Legacy

The organization influenced policy debates around sterilization and health through engagement with the Indian Health Service, congressional hearings such as those before the United States Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, and research disseminated via partnerships with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and academic presses. Its environmental advocacy contributed to heightened scrutiny of uranium extraction and pipeline projects affecting lands held under treaties like the Fort Laramie Treaty (1868) and to alliances that later confronted controversies such as the Dakota Access Pipeline and engaged in forums including the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. Legacy threads appear in contemporary movements led by organizations such as the Indigenous Environmental Network, Native Women’s Association of Canada, National Indigenous Women's Resource Center, Native American Rights Fund, and inspired leaders like Winona LaDuke, Phyllis Young, Ellen Gabriel, Grace Thorpe, and younger activists associated with Standing Rock Sioux Tribe protests. The coalition's work continues to inform scholarship across journals tied to American Indian Quarterly, Native American and Indigenous Studies, and policy work within institutions like the Bureau of Indian Affairs and United States Department of the Interior.

Category:Native American women's organizations