License to Thrive

Winona LaDuke

During a weekend of ceremonies October 6-7, 2007, The National Women’s Hall of Fame inducted environmental advocate Winona LaDuke.

LaDuke graduated from Harvard in 1982 with a degree in rural economic development. After becoming principal of the high school of the White Earth Ojibwe reservation in Minnesota, she soon became an activist, involved in the struggle to recover lands promised to the Ojibwe by an 1867 treaty and still continues to advocate for support and funding of Native American groups. In 1994, she was nominated by Time Magazine as one of America’s most promising leaders under forty years of age. In 1997, she was named one of Ms. Magazine’s Women of the Year. Ms. LaDuke was also the vice-presidential candidate on Ralph Nader’s e Green Party ticket in both 1996 and 2000. She currently serves as the Program Director of Honor the Earth and the Founding Director of White Earth Land Recovery Project.

LaDuke is also the author of three books: the novel "Last Standing Woman" (1997), the non-fiction book "All our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life" (1999), and "Recovering the Sacred: the Power of Naming and Claiming" (2005), a book about traditional beliefs and practices.