Remarkable Native Women
Ryneldi Becenti
Ryneldi Becenti is a Navajo woman from the small town of Fort Defiance who has played
basketball her entire life, and has made history in so doing. After playing college
basketball for Scottsdale College and Arizona State University (where she received
All-Pac 10 honors) she established herself as a force on the court. In 1993 she played
for bronze at the World University Games on the U.S. team and, three years later,
became the first and only woman to find a place in the American Indian Athletic Hall
of Fame. While this was a major accomplishment, maybe the most impressive of her “firsts”
was when she signed for the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), making
her the first woman to sign and play in a professional league. When interviewed about
her success and experiences, her responses are full of gratitude for her opportunities
and the support of her family, as well as strong pride in being a Navajo woman.
Today, her WNBA career has come to an end, but she passes on her experience to high
school students as a coach and a teacher. Two years ago, in 2013, she had her most
recent first- the first woman have her jersey retired by Arizona State University.
Gail Small
Gail Small, an enrolled member of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, is doubtlessly a force
with which to be reckoned. She is an attorney who has worked tirelessly for her tribe
as they fight the Coal Wars in and around the Northern Cheyenne reservation. This
struggle is depicted in the documentary Homeland as well as through autobiographical and historical pieces she and others have written.
Her legal background of tribal and environmental law extends beyond her reservation
as well; Small has worked with other tribes and tribal leaders throughout the country,
working to protect their lands and rights. Notably, she was involved in the case Lyng v. Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Association, a hugely significant case in Northern California for tribes’ fishing rights.
Beyond her powerful work in the courtroom, she is the executive director of Native
Action, “a non-profit organization dedicated to Indian self-sufficiency” according
to the website. She is a professor of Native American Studies here on our very own
MSU campus, and she was one of 20 Americans to be named a 2015 Leopold Leadership
Fellow. Her work in environmental and Native law is inspired, impactful, and honest.
When you see her around campus, be sure to thank her for all she does!
Paula Gunn Allen
Paula Gunn Allen was an author of poetry and novels, in addition to her work as an
LGBT rights activist. From the Laguna Pueblo, her writing focuses heavily on pueblo
culture and the feminine. Perhaps her best-known book, Spider Woman's Granddaughters: Traditional Tales and Contemporary Writing by Native
American Women, received the American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation in 1990. She
had a personal influence on Leslie Marmon Silko, the author of Ceremony, and has inspired many others to step into their womanhood and look at the world differently.
Her feminist writings continue to be read and praised and, as one article commented,
she “… has been a major champion to restore the place of gay and lesbian Native Americans
in the community.” Below is one of her poems...
Hoop Dancer
It's hard to enter
circling clockwise and counter
clockwise moving no
regard for time, metrics
irrelevant to this dance
where pain is the prime number
and soft stepping feet
praise water from the skies:
I have seen the face of triumph
the winding line stare down all moves
to desecration: guts not cut from arms,
fingers joined to minds,
together Sky and Water
one dancing one
circle of a thousand turning lines
beyond the march of gears--
out of time, out of
time, out
of time.
Denise Juneau
A member of the Mandan and Hidatsa tribes and a Blackfeet tribe descendent, Denise
Juneau is a tireless advocate for education in our state. She attended Browning High
School, completed her undergraduate degree here at MSU, and attended graduate school
at Harvard University. She received a law degree from University of Montana. Her
education prepared her for a career in government and her love for education drove
her to become the State Superintendent of Public Instruction. Upon her election to
her current position she made history; she is the first Native American woman to be
elected to a statewide executive office. Considering the conflicts tribes and the
state often face on legal and governmental levels, this is truly significant. In 2009
the National Indian Education Association named her educator of the year and sense
2008 when she took office data shows test scores have been on the rise in the state.
She also advocates for student health, both by promoting local, healthy foods and
working to end tobacco use.