22 Facts About LaDonna Harris

LaDonna Vita Tabbytite Harris was born on February 26,1931 and is a Comanche Native American social activist and politician from Oklahoma.

LaDonna Harris is the founder and president of Americans for Indian Opportunity.

LaDonna Harris was the first Native American woman to run for vice president.

LaDonna Harris was raised traditionally by her maternal grandparents in a self-governing Indigenous community on a farm near the small town of Walters, Oklahoma.

LaDonna Harris learned English when she began attending public school.

In 1964, Fred LaDonna Harris was elected to the US Senate, and the family, now with three children, relocated from Oklahoma to Washington DC.

LaDonna Harris founded the first intertribal organization in Oklahoma, titled the Oklahomans for Indian Opportunity, and became the first wife of a senator to testify before Congress to argue for continued funding to support indigenous tribal organizations.

LaDonna Harris left NICO in 1970 and founded Americans for Indian Opportunity.

LaDonna Harris helped found some of today's leading national Indian organizations including the National Indian Housing Council, Council of Energy Resource Tribes, National Tribal Environmental Council, and National Indian Business Association.

LaDonna Harris has been appointed to many Presidential Commissions, including being recognized by Vice President Al Gore, in 1994, as a leader in the area of telecommunications in his remarks at the White House Tribal Summit.

LaDonna Harris was a founding member of Common Cause and the National Urban Coalition and is a spokesperson against poverty and social injustice.

LaDonna Harris helped the Taos Pueblo regain control of Blue Lake, and she helped the Menominee tribe gain federal recognition after their tribe had been terminated by the US federal government.

LaDonna Harris was an original member of Global Tomorrow Coalition, the US Representative to the OAS Inter-American Indigenous Institute, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

In 1980, as the vice presidential nominee on the Citizens Party ticket with Barry Commoner, LaDonna Harris added environmental issues to the national debate and future presidential campaigns.

LaDonna Harris endorsed Bernie Sanders for president during the 2016 Democratic presidential primaries.

LaDonna Harris was an honorary co-chair of the Women's March on Washington, which took place on January 21,2017, the day after the inauguration of Donald Trump as president.

LaDonna Harris served on the boards of the Girl Scouts of the USA, Independent Sector, Council on Foundations, National Organization for Women, National Urban League, Save the Children, National Committee Against Discrimination in Housing, and Overseas Development Corporation.

LaDonna Harris serves on the advisory boards of the National Museum of the American Indian, American Civil Liberties Union, Delphi International Group, and National Institute for Women of Color.

LaDonna Harris is an honorary Member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority.

LaDonna Harris discussed the idea with her adult children, and they agreed.

LaDonna Harris supported Depp when an ad featuring Depp and Native American imagery, by Dior for the fragrance "Sauvage", was pulled on August 30,2019, after charges of cultural appropriation and racism.

LaDonna Harris has raised three children: Kathryn Tijerina is executive director of the Railyard Park Trust in Santa Fe; Byron is a technician in television production in Los Angeles; and Laura works with her mother as the executive director at AIO.