LaDuke, Winona

Winona LaDuke is a Native American writer, environmentalist, professor, and activist. She is part of the Anishinabe tribe, one of the largest tribes in North America. LaDuke's work primarily focuses on recovering land for the Anishinabe people. She was the vice presidential candidate on the Green party ticket with Ralph Nader in 1996 and 2000. LaDuke is the founder and director of the White Earth Recovery Land Project and the founder and cochair of the Indigenous Women's Network. She has received numerous awards and is known internationally for her commitment to American Indian people.

LaDuke was born in Los Angeles, California, to an Anishinabe father and Jewish mother. At a young age she moved to Ashland, Oregon, where she was raised. At the age of 18 she was the youngest person to ever address the United Nations, speaking on issues facing Indian peoples. She went to Harvard University and earned a degree in Rural Economic Development and later earned her master's degree from Antioch University in Community Economic Development. Although she worked for a time as a high school principal on the Anishinabe White Earth reservation in Minnesota, she soon realized that her work was in land recovery for her people.

LaDuke worked tirelessly to recover lands rightfully owned by the Anishinabe people after an 1867 treaty agreement with the U.S. government. She was successful in thousands of acres of ancestral land being bought back by her people. It was during this process that she founded the White Earth Land Recovery Project-the largest reservation-based nonprofit organization in the United States. The goals of this project are land recovery, Ojibwe language preservation, environmental concerns, and cultural and agricultural sustainability. The White Earth Land Recovery Project is also the umbrella organization for Native Harvest, a program to expand the production and selling of native foods and harvests. She serves as a board member for the Trust for Public Lands Native Lands program and the Christensen Fund-organizations involved with land sustainability and cultural preservation.