THUNDERBIRD WOMAN: Winona LaDuke
This is an inspiring portrait of Winona La Duke, a unique and dynamic activist and member of the Anishinaabe tribe from the White Earth reservation in Northern Minnesota. Her father was a Native American who worked as a stuntman in Hollywood; her mother was a Jewish artist from New York.
After completing her studies in economics at Harvard, Winona settled on the reservation. She traveled widely raising money to buy back land originally owned by Native Americans. In the film, we meet Native American activists Ralph Bear Killer and Alex White Plume who describe how the US government in the late 19th century defrauded the Native Americans of so much of their land, while suppressing their language and culture. The government also slaughtered millions of buffalo upon which their agriculture depended. This destruction of the ecosystem is still being felt today.
Winona organized resistance against uranium and coal mining on reservation lands. Nicknamed "No Nukes la Duke," in the 1980's she used the slogan "No Nukes" to unite the Indian Movement in anti-nuclear protest. A published author, she was named one of America's 50 most promising leaders under 40 years of age by TIME magazine and was also chosen by Ralph Nader to be his running mate on the Green Party ticket in the 1996 and 2000 elections.
"After watching this video you can’t help but like Winona LaDuke. She is intelligent, passionate, down-to-earth, and sincere. Her causes make sense for her people. If you haven’t met Winona yet this is a good introduction to her and the issues she is passionate about. She makes sense, is convincing, and in this video very likeable. Thunderbird Woman is an interesting and educational film about an important and special woman"
Veronica Maher, Roger Williams University, Bristol, Rhode Island for Educational Media Reviews Online
*NATIVE AMERICAN STUDIES
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