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- By Native News Online Staff
Women's History Month 2026. March is Women’s History Month, and to celebrate, Native News Online will feature stories and interviews with Native American women to highlight all that they do for communities across Indian Country.
Native women are the center of tribal Nations; the givers of life. They are the center of our present, our past and our future.
To kick off this month of celebration, the staff at Native News Online collected some of our favorite stories published about Native women working to make their communities and beyond a better place for all.
Below, you can find stories that showcase the stellar achievements of people like Rose Lebeau, Wilma Mankiller, Lily Gladstone, and Deb Haaland, along with insights from Native women that carry the everyday functions of life. People like Maya Thin Elk, a Sicangu Lakota woman who is a doula in Minneapolis, kept up her support for pregnant women while federal police terrorized people in the streets. Or Keira Manuelito and Ashlyn Chee, who learned a bit of entrepreneurship from their mother, Valerie Benally, during a high school graduation.
Native women exist —the loud, the quiet, the ones under the spotlight and the ones doing everything unnoticed — and that is more than enough to celebrate.
Women's History Month: Ada Deer
Ada Deer, a towering figure in Native American advocacy and the first woman to serve the Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs, made indelible marks throughout her life. Read More
Women's History Month: Marcella Rose LeBeau
Marcella Rose LeBeau, a tribal citizen of the Cheyenne River Sioux, lived a long life that was spent in service to others–in Indian Country and beyond–as a nurse, tribal councilor, and advocate. Read More
Women's History Month: Ingrid Washinawatok
Ingrid Washinawatok, which translates to “Flying Eagle Woman,” left a mark on the world through her unwavering commitment to her people and their struggles. Read More
Women's History Month: Sarah Winnemucca (Northern Paiute)
Sarah Winnemucca (Northern Paiute) was an early advocate for Native American rights during a time when the federal government was actively campaigning for the extermination of Native peoples. Read More
Women’s History Month: Wilma Pearl Mankiller
Wilma Pearl Mankiller was the first woman to serve as principal chief of the Cherokee Nation. She served as principal chief from 1985 to 1995. She is credited in bringing great transformation of progress for the Cherokee Nation during her administration. Read More
Women’s History Month: Elizabeth Peratrovich (Tlingit)
An Alaska Native civil rights leader, Elizabeth Peratrovich (Tlingit) was before her time. She was instrumental in passing the Anti-Discrimination Act of 1945 that ended legal discrimination against Alaska Native people—two decades before Martin Luther King Jr.'s influential Civil Rights Act of 1964. Read More
Coming Home to Birth
On Feb. 12, 2023, Chante Tran (Yup’ik) awoke in the middle of the night to an unmistakable sensation. She rolled out of bed and grabbed a cloth to stem the flow of amniotic fluid between her legs — her water had broken. It was time to meet her baby. Read More
Beyond the Nomination: Lily Gladstone’s Oscar Moment Unveils Her Career-Long Effort to Teach True American History
Growing up, Lily Gladstone was presented with opposing visions for her acting career.
Her high school graduating class voted her "Most Likely to Win an Oscar," and her father predicted Gladstone would one day win an Academy Award, as well. Read More
Q&A: Jingle Dress Dancer Answered Call to Ceremony in Face of ICE Violence
Earlier this month, an intersection in south Minneapolis was filled with the rhythmic sound of jingle dresses. Bright garments adorned with thousands of pieces of curled tin sang when knocked against each other, to the movement of the Ojibwe women who danced in ceremony to honor the lives of Renee Good and Alex Perretti, two U.S. citizens killed in the city by militant agents of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in January. Read More
Pow Wow Grounds Coffee: The Heart of Minneapolis’ Native Community
Maya Thin Elk ordered a mango smoothie and breakfast burrito at Pow Wow Grounds Coffee before going to the Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center to pick up supplies for families homebound with newborns and pregnant mothers who are unable to leave their homes. Read More
Class of 2025 Leads the Way for Indigenous Graduation Regalia
The cliff fendlerbush’s blooms offered countless nibbles for one hungry young deer. Its mother watched the feast from several steps away, on the other side of a nature path crossroad below Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado. Read More
‘Meet your prayer halfway’ | Women-Led Bison Harvests Bring Tribal Food Sovereignty
Last week, cultural educator Patti Harris-Baldes (Northern Arapaho and Big Pine) introduced herself with humility to the bison on the ground in front of her on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Read More
Deer Camp: A Family Tradition That Runs Deep
Every fall, as soon as the air turned crisp and the leaves began to drop, my dad would come alive with joy. We cancelled all plans that happened to fall on the opening weekend of firearm deer hunting season in Minnesota - no questions asked. Read More
Deb Haaland Rolls Out Affordability Agenda in Albuquerque
Floor-to-ceiling windows separated two Albuquerque community kitchens inside the Street Food Institute. In one kitchen, New Mexico candidate for governor Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo) outlined an affordability plan she said would support the people who worked in the kitchen across the hall, where silver trays clanked during afternoon cleanup as she spoke on Wednesday. Read More
'We Will Not Be Erased' | Q&A with Charlene Aqpik Apok, Founder and Executive Director of Data for Indigenous Justice
In 2018, Charlene Aqpik Apok (Iñupiaq) took part in a rally at the Alaska Federation of Natives annual convention. Held in Anchorage, the convening is the largest gathering of Alaska Native people, and where representatives from 177 federally recognized tribes make their voices heard on critical policy issues. Read More
First Foods
When Alissa White gave birth at home in May 2020, her newborn son was immediately rushed to the hospital. When the Tlingit mother waited anxiously in the emergency room, separated from her child due to early pandemic protocols, she asked for a breast pump. Read More
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Monday Morning (March 2, 2026): Articles You May Have Missed This Past Weekend
Native News Weekly (March 1, 2026): D.C. Briefs
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