21 Facts About Winona LaDuke

Winona LaDuke was born on August 18,1959 and is an American environmentalist, writer, and industrial hemp grower, known for her work on tribal land claims and preservation, as well as sustainable development.

Winona LaDuke was born in 1959 in Los Angeles, California, to Betty Bernstein and Vincent LaDuke.

Winona LaDuke's father was from the Ojibwe White Earth Reservation in Minnesota, and her mother of Jewish European ancestry from The Bronx, New York.

Winona LaDuke started work at White Earth after graduating from college when she got a job there as principal of the high school.

The couple separated when Winona LaDuke was five, and her mother took a position as an art instructor at Southern Oregon College, now Southern Oregon University at Ashland, then a small logging and college town near the California border.

Winona LaDuke attended Harvard University, where she joined a group of Indigenous activists, and graduated in 1982 with a Bachelor of Arts in economics.

Winona LaDuke worked for Durham, investigating the effects of uranium mining in Navajo reservations.

Winona LaDuke worked with Women of All Red Nations to publicize American forced sterilization of Native American women.

In 1989, Winona LaDuke founded the White Earth Land Recovery Project in Minnesota with the proceeds of a human rights award from Reebok.

Winona LaDuke delivered her address at the school on June 13,2014.

Winona LaDuke was the executive director of Honor the Earth, an organization she co-founded with the non-Native folk-rock duo the Indigo Girls in 1993.

In 1996 and 2000, Winona LaDuke ran as the vice-presidential candidate with Ralph Nader on the Green Party ticket.

Winona LaDuke was not endorsed by any tribal council or other tribal government.

Winona LaDuke endorsed the Democratic Party ticket for president and vice-president in 2004,2008, and 2012.

In 2016, Winona LaDuke was involved in the Dakota Access Pipeline protests, participating at the resistance camps in North Dakota and speaking to the media on the issue.

At the July 2019 National Audubon Convention in Milwaukee, Winona LaDuke gave the keynote address with updates on efforts to stop the Sandpiper pipeline, other pipelines, and other projects near Ojibwe waters and through the Leech Lake Reservation.

Winona LaDuke urged everyone to be water protectors and stand up for their rights.

Winona LaDuke has said that she turned to industrial hemp farming after being urged to investigate the practice for several years and advocates its potential to turn the American economy away from fossil fuels.

Winona LaDuke has promoted the growth of both marijuana and industrial hemp on Indigenous tribal lands for financial profit and the localization of the economy.

In 1988, Winona LaDuke married Randy Kapashesit of Moose Factory, Ontario, Canada.

Winona LaDuke's third biological child, with her partner Kevin Gasco, was born in 1999, and she has three adopted children.