Weaving Community: Indigenous Women and Leadership in the Twin Cities - Softcover

Thayer, Audrey

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1681343320 ISBN 13: 9781681343327

Verlag: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2026

Inhaltsangabe

A compelling history of the often overlooked work of contemporary Native American women who took action to strengthen the bonds within and among their urban communities.

From the 1960s through the 1990s in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Native women activists helped build institutions that sustain urban Indigenous communities to this day. Weaving Community pays tribute to figures such as Vernell Wabasha, Winifred Jourdain, Bonnie Wallace, and Laura Waterman Wittstock, leaders in addressing the needs of Native people living in the metropolitan area. Thanks to their combined efforts, the Twin Cities gave rise to noteworthy organizations including the Indian Health Board of Minneapolis, the first off-reservation health care center for Indigenous people; MIGIZI, a nonprofit that supports the educational, economic, and cultural needs of Indigenous youth; and Project STAIRS, which addressed the mistreatment of Native students in public schools and laid the foundation for the University of Minnesota’s American Indian Studies program.

Drawing on oral histories and individual interviews, Audrey Thayer and Colette Hyman share powerful testimonies of urban Native community building. The two dozen Dakota, Anishinaabe, and Ho-Chunk women who tell their stories in Weaving Community display the cultural values of strong female leadership as well as the vital importance of preserving traditions, ceremonies, and languages. At a crucial moment in history, these women persevered so that Indigenous people in the Twin Cities could lead lives of dignity and cultural integrity. 

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Audrey Thayer is an academic instructor at Leech Lake Tribal College. She has worked as an Indian Health Service administrator and an anti-racist organizer and is the first Native woman to serve on the Bemidji City Council. She lives in Bemidji, Minnesota. 

Colette A. Hyman is professor emerita at Winona State University, where she taught history and women’s studies. She is the author of Dakota Women’s Work: Creativity, Culture, and Exile. She lives in Winona, Minnesota.

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As soon as the outlines of a self-conscious, organized Indigenous community took shape in the Twin Cities, in the 1920s, women initiated efforts to ensure the well-being of their people in this hostile urban environment. During the rapid growth of the Indigenous population after World War II, more women stood up, most notably Emily Peake and Winifred Jourdain. By the 1960s and 1970s, women stepped up as founders and leaders of the numerous institutions that Indigenous people in Minneapolis and St. Paul established to meet their communities’ needs. . . . 

Weaving Community looks at how this happened. We follow the paths of women who dedicated themselves to building a thriving community in the Twin Cities and revitalizing their languages and cultures. We look at the organizations they built and the institutions they sought to make more responsive to the needs of their people. We also explore the relationships among these women, and their relationships to their communities, both in the Twin Cities and on their home reservations. Finally, we tease out from these accounts the meaning of women’s leadership, both as these women envisioned it and as they lived it.

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Minnesota Historical Society Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2026
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1681343320
• ISBN 13: 9781681343327
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 180
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar