38 Facts About Viola Hatch

Viola Hatch was a Native American activist, founding member of the National Indian Youth Council, and former tribal chair of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes.

Viola Hatch successfully sued the Canton, Oklahoma, schools regarding the right of students to obtain an education.

Viola Hatch found work at the Spiegel Company which was operating as predominantly a mail-order clothing and home accessory company.

The Red Power Movement and American Indian Movement were both born out of this pan-Indian awakening, and Viola Hatch was involved from the beginning.

Viola Hatch had returned from Chicago and married Donald Hatch, a union organizer.

Viola Hatch opened senior and youth centers, worked with the homeless and VISTA volunteers, and urged political involvement by native peoples.

Viola Hatch became involved in both local and national level organizations for Indian rights.

Viola Hatch worked as a field operative for Oklahomans for Indian Opportunity, an organization developed by LaDonna Harris under the federal Office of Economic Opportunity programs.

Field operatives, like Viola Hatch, began organizing tribal Head Start Programs, programs to deal with high Indian drop-out rates, native economic development programs and tribal human services.

Viola Hatch has continued to serve on the board from the inception through 2015.

On 12 September 1972, about forty to fifty Indians from the AIM movement, including Camp and Viola Hatch, took over the office of the state Indian Education director, Overton James in Oklahoma City, to protest the way federal money for Indian education was allocated.

Partly because of her involvement with AIM, but partly through her work with the OIO, Viola Hatch was sent a few months after the BIA incident to take charge of a situation which had developed in the schools at Hammon, Oklahoma.

Viola Hatch obtained a grant of $30,000 from the BIA, which enabled 65 students of all ages to enroll in the Institute.

Don Viola Hatch recounted Henry Crowdog, who adopted Viola Hatch into his family, playing his guitar and singing Lakota songs.

In 1998, Viola Hatch returned to South Dakota on the 25th anniversary of the event to participate in the Commemoration of Wounded Knee.

Viola Hatch was vocal about tribal repatriation of ancestors and worked with other Indian leadership to secure the passage of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990.

Viola Hatch hosted the walkers at her home in Canton, Oklahoma on 1 April 2011.

In 1982, Viola Hatch was elected as vice chair of the Business Committee of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes.

Viola Hatch served on the business committee from 1982 to 1983,1984 to 1985,1988 to 1989,1990 to 1991, and 1992 to 1993.

From 1987 to 1988 Viola Hatch served as vice chair of the tribes.

Viola Hatch was elected and served as Tribal Chair from 1994 to 1995.

In March 1995, Viola Hatch was removed from office, as she, a former state senator, and two other past tribal officers, including Juanita Learned, of Cheyenne-Arapaho tribes were named in a 32-count federal indictment alleging they conspired to embezzle tribal funds.

Viola Hatch was one of the tribal chairs accused and had served as treasurer when the alleged discrepancies occurred.

Viola Hatch was convicted of receiving funds for conferences she did not attend and sentenced to 12 months in prison.

Viola Hatch was convicted of "conversion" which legally means that she had lawfully come into possession of the funds but then afterwards illegally used the funds.

Viola Hatch's conviction was appealed to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, Colorado and overturned.

The government based its claim on the fact that as treasurer Viola Hatch had access to tribal funds and a fiduciary responsibility over them; therefore, she had "ownership" of funds.

However, the appellate court ruled that Viola Hatch did not have sole discretionary use, as signatures of the business manager, the business committee chairman, and the comptroller were required for her to disburse any funds.

The laxity of the business committee operations allowed overpayment of expenses, without any method of tracking double-payments, but did not constitute that Viola Hatch knew overpayments were occurring or that she had discretionary authority over tribal funds.

Viola Hatch attended schools at Canton and Concho boarding school where she was a part of the BIA relocation program.

Viola Hatch then relocated to Chicago where she worked for the Spiegel Company.

Viola Hatch served on the Southern Arapaho Language Advisory Board and is an honored elder board member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribe.

Viola Hatch was involved with Bob Dotson's production at KWTV News of the documentary Till It's Here No More.

Viola Hatch traveled to international indigenous rights meetings and participated in the United Nations Forum in Geneva, Switzerland which developed the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Viola Hatch met with the Ambassador to the European Union for the Sacred Sites meeting in a trip to Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Viola Hatch married Donald Vernon Viola Hatch on June 5,1954.

Viola Hatch died on April 22,2019, in her home, surrounded by her family.

At time of her death, Viola Hatch had 4 children, 6 grandchildren, and 16 great-grandchildren.