Ladonna Brave Bull Allard

Photo by Jens Schwarz

Ladonna Brave Bull Allard

This #matriachmonday we are honoring the fierce heart of Ladonna Brave Bull Allard, or Tamakawastewin which means Good Earth Woman. Ladonna is a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and a tribal historian from the Oceti Sakowin Nation of the bands of Ihunktonwana, (Upper Yanktonais) Pabaska (Cuthead) and Sisseton Dakota on her father’s side, Hunkpapa, Sihasapa (Blackfeet) and Oglala Lakota on her mother’s side of the family.

In 2016, Ladonna bravely opened up her homestead to welcome resistors of the Dakota Access Pipeline and defenders of the Standing Rock Sioux homelands. Their goal was to stop the pipeline from plowing past the sacred graves of Ladonna's son and husband and under the Missouri River. Ladonna's Sacred Stone Camp, or Iŋyaŋ Wakháŋagapi Othí, which still lives on today and will continue until "every pipe is out of the ground and the earth is repaired across the United States." according to Ladonna, who is "not negotiating, I am not backing down. I must stand for our grandchildren and for the water.”

We celebrate Ladonna Brave Bull Allard for her tenacity, her heart, her humor, and for building a movement that will last into eternity.

From Ladonna: "I want to make sure you guys understand. I don’t know nothing, I don’t do anything, the only gift I have is I come from a long line of big-mouthed women and I have a big mouth. That’s it."

Photo by Jens Schwarz