Winona laduke ralph nader biography

Winona LaDuke, a Native American activist, economist, and author, has devoted her life to advocating for Indigenous control of their homelands, natural resources, and cultural practices. She combines economic and environmental approaches in her efforts to create a thriving and sustainable community for her own White Earth reservation and Indigenous populations across the country.   

Winona LaDuke was born in Los Angeles, California on August 18, 1959 to parents Vincent and Betty (Bernstein) LaDuke. Her father, also known as Sun Bear, was Anishinaabe (or Ojibwe) from the White Earth Reservation in Minnesota. He was an actor, writer, and activist. Her mother was an artist and activist. LaDuke is an Anishinaabekwe (Ojibwe) enrolled member of the Mississippi Band Anishinaabeg. Her father brought her to powwows and other tribal functions, events that made a deep impression on the young LaDuke. LaDuke’s parents divorced when she was five and she moved with her mother, who was of Russian Jewish descent, to Ashland, Oregon. LaDuke visited White Earth frequently and, at her mother’s encouragement, spent summers living in Native communities in order to strengthen her connection with her heritage.   

LaDuke attended Harvard University and graduated in 1982 with a degree in rural economic development. While at Harvard, LaDuke’s interest in Native issues grew. She spent a summer working on a campaign to stop uranium mining on Navajo land in Nevada, and testified before the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland about the exploitation of Indian lands.   

After Harvard, LaDuke took a position as principal of the reservation high school at the White Earth Ojibwe reservation in Minnesota. She soon became involved in a lawsuit filed by the Anishinaabeg people to recover lands promised to them by an 1867 federal treaty. At the time of the treaty, the White Earth Reservation included 837,000 acres, but government policies allowed lumber companies and other non-Native groups to tak

Author and activist

Winona LaDuke (born August 18, 1959) is an American environmentalist, writer, and industrial hemp grower, known for her work on tribal land claims and preservation, as well as sustainable development.

In 1996 and 2000, she ran for vice president of the United States as the nominee of the Green Party of the United States, on a ticket headed by Ralph Nader. Until 2023 she was the executive director and a co-founder (along with the Indigo Girls) of Honor the Earth, a Native environmental advocacy organization that played an active role in the Dakota Access Pipeline protests.

In 2016, she received an electoral vote for vice president. In doing so, she became the first Green Party member to receive an electoral vote.

Early life and education

Winona (meaning "first daughter" in Dakota language) LaDuke was born in 1959 in Los Angeles, California, to Betty Bernstein and Vincent LaDuke (later known as Sun Bear). Her father was from the OjibweWhite Earth Reservation in Minnesota, and her mother of Jewish European ancestry from The Bronx, New York. LaDuke spent some of her childhood in Los Angeles, but was primarily raised in Ashland, Oregon. Due to her father's heritage, she was enrolled at birth with the White Earth Nation, but did not live at White Earth, or any other reservation, until 1982. She started work at White Earth after graduating from college when she got a job there as principal of the high school.

After her parents married, Vincent LaDuke worked as an actor in Hollywood in supporting roles in Western movies, while Betty LaDuke completed her academic studies. The couple separated when Winona was five, and her mother took a position as an art instructor at Southern Oregon College, now Southern Oregon University at Ashland, then a small logging and college town near the California border. In the 1980s, Vincent reinvented himself as a N

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Each week, One Earth is proud to feature a Climate Hero from around the globe, working to create a world where humanity and nature can thrive together.

Acclaimed activist, economist, writer, and environmental leader Winona LaDuke has dedicated her life to Indigenous land rights, cultural preservation, and sustainable development. Now, through Winona’s Hemp & Heritage Farm, she is blending traditional knowledge with regenerative agriculture to foster a more sustainable future.

Growing up between cultures and finding her roots

Winona, meaning “first daughter” in the Dakota language, was born in Los Angeles, California, and raised in Ashland, Oregon. Her father was from the White Earth Ojibwe Nation in Minnesota, while her mother’s family were Jewish immigrants from Europe. Though she was enrolled in the Ojibwe Nation at a young age, she did not grow up on the White Earth Reservation. It was only during her time at Harvard University, where she studied economics, that she became deeply involved in Indigenous activism.

Returning to White Earth and becoming an advocate

After graduating, LaDuke moved to the White Earth Reservation to work as a high school principal. Feeling like an outsider at first, she immersed herself in local issues, earning a Master's in Community Economic Development from Antioch University. Her thesis focused on the reservation’s subsistence economy, which sparked her lifelong mission to strengthen Indigenous self-sufficiency.

Fighting for land rights and tribal sovereignty

In 1985, LaDuke co-founded the Indigenous Women's Network (IWN), an organization advocating for Native women, families, and communities. She worked to expose the historical forced sterilization of Indigenous women, and later became involved in a lawsuit seeking to reclaim land promised to the White Earth Ojibwe in an 1867 treaty.

Despite losing the case after four years of litigation, LaDuke remained committed to land justice. She founded the White Earth L