Bending the Arc

March is Women’s History Month and here are a few of the amazing women who are making history and a positive change for good in Indian Country in Wisconsin, as reported recently in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

•  Marj Stevens is one of three Oneida women who founded the Indian Community School in Milwaukee, now located in Franklin. Today, the school enrolls more than 300 students representing more than 30 tribal nations across North America. Its mission is to provide an Indigenous American education with a special emphasis on teaching Indigenous history, culture, language and practices. Stevens also helped to revive traditional ways for the Oneida community in Wisconsin, which had nearly been lost because of assimilation. 

• Alaqua Cox is an actress from the Menominee Nation who starred as Marvel’s first live-action superhero and had her own series on Disney+ called “Echo.” It is a role that has inspired many Indigenous girls across the country after seeing themselves represented as a superhero. 

• Carol Amour is not Native, but her late husband, George Amour, was Lac du Flambeau Ojibwe from Wisconsin. She has done a lot of volunteer work in Indian Country in Wisconsin and her current project is to save the pow wow exhibit at the Milwaukee Public Museum. She is helping to lead those efforts along with a committee of mostly Indigenous people from the Milwaukee area who have personal connections with the lifelike exhibit. The museum is being closed as a new building is being built and museum officials do not plan to move the exhibit to the new museum.

• Elena Terry is a Ho-Chunk chef who founded Wild Bearies, an educational non-profit looking to build stronger tribal communities through Indigenous food systems and farming techniques. She recently competed on a Food Network TV show called “BBQ Brawl” and faced off against some top pitmasters.

• McKaylin Peters is a Menominee woman who recently created the short documentary, Fighting the Fight, highlighting the epidemic of violence against Indigenous people. She spoke about the issue in Washington D.C. with former Vice President Kamala Harris and other decision-makers in the federal government. Peters currently works as the spokesperson for the Menominee tribal chair’s office. 

We are grateful that the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has chosen to highlight these remarkable Indigenous women from Wisconsin who are making history, and hope for the continued success of their work.