Dr. Janine Pease

Matriarch Monday

This #matriarchmonday we celebrate & honor Dr. Janine Pease (Apsáalooke aka Crow) a renowned indigenous scholar, educator and advocate. Dr Pease is the first Apsáalooke woman to earn a doctorate. She was the founding president of the Little Big Horn College in Crow Agency Montana.  In 1982, Pease, a former welfare recipient, transformed $50,000 in seed money from her tribe and an abandoned building into Little Big Horn College where she served as founding president for 18 years. Pease was also a past president of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium, a director of the American Indian College Fund & a trustee of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian.

Pease (then Janine Windy Boy) was the lead plaintiff in a voting rights litigation against Big Horn County (Windy Boy v. Big Horn County), the result of which was a Federal District Court ruling that invalidated at large elections in Big Horn County and the local school district. This was the first successful Voting Rights Act case on behalf of American Indians. Aside from her academic achievements she also served on the Montana Human Rights Commission. Dr. Pease has won several prestigious awards: National Indian Educator of the Year, The MacArthur Fellowship “Genius Award” and the ACLU Jeanette Rankin Award. Dr. Janine Pease is proof that you can go home again. After spending more than 10 years elsewhere leading in higher education she has dedicated her life to her people through revitalizing the Crow language, especially among its children. 

We honor Dr Janine Pease today & always!