Winona LaDuke is an Anishinaabekwe (Ojibwe) enrolled member of the Mississippi Band of Anishinaabeg. After graduating from Harvard University with a degree in rural economic development, she returned to her ancestral roots on the White Earth Indian Reservation to raise her family and work as principal of the high school. She soon became involved in the struggle to recover lands promised to the Ojibwe by an 1867 treaty.

She is an activist for indigenous rights and environmental justice, causes deeply rooted in the region. Her work encompasses issues of land recovery, indigenous women’s rights, environmental justice, civil rights, traditional wild rice production, and environmental stewardship.

LaDuke has held founding and continuous roles in indigenous organizations, including Honor the Earth and the Indigenous Women’s Network. She is a former board member of Greenpeace USA and has had an extensive association with the Indigenous Environmental Network in Bemidji, Minnesota. She is also the founding director of the White Earth Land Recovery Project, which focuses on recovering land lost by the Anishinaabeg people.

Beyond her role as a leader within her community and the region, LaDuke has become internationally known for her message and cause. In the 1996 and 2000 presidential elections, she brought nationwide attention to the region as the vice presidential candidate for Green Party nominee Ralph Nader.

Her dedication and influence have been recognized through numerous awards, including the International Slow Food Award (2003), International Reebok Human Rights Award (1998), and Ms. Magazine Woman of the Year Award (1997), and others. In 1994, she was named one of Time magazine’s 50 most promising leaders under the age of 40. In 2007, Winona was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.

LaDuke has been a prolific writer, earning national acclaim for her articles and four non-fiction books; she won the Minnesota Book Award in 2006 for Recovering the Sacred: the Power of Naming and Claiming. Similar praise has been given for her lectures on indigenous environmentalism, indigenous rights, civic engagement and social responsibility, and social action.