Lakota Woman is a memoir by Mary Brave Bird, formerly Mary Crow Dog

Mary Crow Dog

Mary Brave Bird, also known as Mary Brave Woman Olguin and Mary Crow Dog is a Brulé Lakota writer and activist who was a member of the American Indian Movement during the 1970s and participated in some of their most publicized events, including the Wounded Knee Incident when she was 20 years...

, a Sicangu Lakota

Brulé

The Brulé are one of the seven branches or bands of the Teton Lakota Sioux American Indian nation. They are known as Sičháŋǧu Oyáte , or "Burnt Thighs Nation," and so, were called Brulé by the French...

. Reared on the Rosebud Indian Reservation

Rosebud Indian Reservation

The Rosebud Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation in South Dakota, United States. It is the home of the federally recognized Sicangu Oyate, also known as Sicangu Lakota, the Upper Brulé Sioux Nation, and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe , a branch of the Lakota people...

 in South Dakota

South Dakota

South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...

, she describes her childhood and young adulthood, which included many historical events associated with the American Indian Movement

American Indian Movement

The American Indian Movement is a Native American activist organization in the United States, founded in 1968 in Minneapolis, Minnesota by urban Native Americans. The national AIM agenda focuses on spirituality, leadership, and sovereignty...

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Lakota Woman describes Brave Bird's participation in the 1972 Trail of Broken Treaties

Trail of Broken Treaties

The Trail of Broken Treaties was a cross-country protest in the United States by American Indian and First Nations organizations that took place in the autumn of 1972...

 and the 1973 Indian Occupation at Wounded Knee

Wounded Knee Incident

The Wounded Knee incident began February 27, 1973 when about 200 Oglala Lakota and followers of the American Indian Movement seized and occupied the town of Wounded Knee, South Dakota on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation...

. She also writes about her marriage to Leonard Crow Dog

Leonard Crow Dog

Leonard Crow Dog is a Sicangu Lakota medicine man and spiritual leader who became well-known during the takeover of the town of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota in 1973 known as the Wounded Knee Incident. Through his writings and teachings he has sought to unify...

, the spiritual leader of AIM. She describes her involvement in the Native American Church

Native American Church

Native American Church, a religious denomination which practices Peyotism or the Peyote religion, originated in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, and is the most widespread indigenous religion among Native Americans in the United States...

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Richard Erdoes (1912-2008) edited the book. Born in Austria and author of over 21 books, Erdoes was a longtime friend of Brave Bird and also helped her publish her other memoir, Ohitika Woman.

Honors

Lakota Woman won the 1991 American Book Award

American Book Award

The American Book Award was established in 1978 by the Before Columbus Foundation. It seeks to recognize outstanding literary achievement by contemporary American authors, without restriction to race, sex, ethnic background, or genre...

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The book inspired the 1994 film Lakota Woman: Siege at Wounded Knee

Lakota Woman: Siege at Wounded Knee

Lakota Woman: Siege at Wounded Knee is a 1994 TNT original movie starring Irene Bedard, Tantoo Cardinal, Pato Hoffmann, Joseph Runningfox, Lawrence Bayne, and Michael Horse and August Schellenberg....

produced by TNT and Jane Fonda

Jane Fonda

Jane Fonda is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model, and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou. She has won two Academy Awards and received several other movie awards and nominations during more than 50 years as an...

. It starred Irene Bedard

Irene Bedard

Irene Bedard is an American actress best known for her portrayal of Native American characters in a variety of films. Bedard was born in Anchorage, Alaska...

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