Online Resources
Women (59 resources)
Making Memories with Dolls
Article
An NMAI fellow uses the senses to show how dolls can make and preserve memories.
Restoration and Honor for Osage Ballerina Sisters
Article
Honoring Osage sisters who leaped into ballet history.
"Shelley Niro: 500 Year Itch"
Video
A Big Step for Kiowa Women Veterans
Article
The Kiowa Women Warriors are the first all-women Kiowa color guard-and the first to wear feathered war bonnets, a tradition long reserved for men.
Cycling Siblings Break New Ground
Article
Oneida siblings are taking the professional cycling world by storm.
Scratching a 500 Year Itch: Mohawk Artist Shelley Niro’s Multimedia Creations Know No Limits
Article
An NMAI exhibition features the candid art of Six Nations Kanyen’kehá:ka (Mohawk) artist, photographer and filmmaker Shelley Niro—works that shine a harsh spotlight on society yet provide a healing outlet for her people.
Following Family Lines
Article
A Hopi pottery maker discovers her grandmother’s pot and inspiration in the NMAI’s Cultural Resources Center.
The Aunties of FX's "Reservation Dogs"
Video
A Sisterhood of the Sea
Article
Shinnecock farmers are reviving kelp-growing traditions to restore a Long Island bay.
Artist Discussion: Ancestors Know Who We Are
Video
Succinct Poetry with Long Roots and Reach
Article
Donna Beaver’s Tlingit and Tsimshian cultures have inspired her powerful poems and imagery.
Lasting Impressions: Jennie Ross Cobb, First Female American Indian Photographer, Framed Cherokee Life in Indian Territory
Article
Jennie Ross Cobb, the first known Native American female photographer, captured some of the earliest images of life in a Cherokee Nation in Indian Territory.
Women as Leaders and Nurturers
Article
Sičáŋǧu Lakota artist Dyani White Hawk’s screen prints honor the strength, leadership and care-taking roles of Native women and veterans.
Bolstering Artisans of the Americas
Article
Heidi McKinnon set up shop to support and share the beautiful, handmade works of Indigenous artisans.
Showing Women of Strength
Article
Aymara photographer Sara Aliaga Ticona captures the essence of Bolivian women in her stunning images.
A View into Two Worlds
Article
Images in the Smithsonian archives of Zitkala-Ša show how this accomplished Yankton Sioux writer, violinist, composer and advocate for Indigenous rights and women’s suffrage lived in two very different cultures.
Museum's New Director Dr. Cynthia Chavez Lamar Says Her Goal Is 'Listening, Being Respectful and Asking for Help'
Blog
The Dreamscapes of Emily Johnson
Article
This award-winning Yup’ik meta choreographer doesn’t simply break the conventions of contemporary dance; she ignores them.
National Women's History Month: Mitchelene BigMan
Blog
Kay WalkingStick and Jaune Quick-to-See Smith in Conversation
Video
Native Women Making Change
Video
A conversation with two young Native women who are currently working at local and state levels to make change.
Reactions From Indian Country to Deb Haaland’s Confirmation as Secretary of the Interior
Blog
Meet Three Native Women Combining Powwow Dance With Other Types of Fitness
Blog
How Do American Indians Celebrate Mother's Day?
Blog
Chief Warrant Officer Two Misty Dawn Lakota
Blog
Women's History Month Matters at the National Museum of the American Indian
Blog
From a Dance Performance on the Residential School Experience to a Symposium Celebrating Native Women's Art, Women's History Month Matters at the National Museum of the American Indian.
A Lasting Statement: An Exhibition Showcases the Range and Enduring Impacts of Native Women's Art
Article
Women have created the majority of Native art, but their individual creativity and influence has often been ignored by the art world. The exhibition Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists could help change that.
Symposium—A Promise Kept: The Inspiring Life and Works of Suzan Shown Harjo
Video Playlist
A Promise Kept
Article
Suzan Shown Harjo helped achieve the passage of the federal acts that affirmed American Indians' religious freedom, established the National Museum of the American Indian, and required federally funded institutions to repatriate cultural items and human remains.
Honoring Women as Strong as Bison Horn
Article
Oglala Lakota jewelry artists Kevin and Valerie Pourier create a belt that honors the resurgence of women power.
Winyan (Woman) Power: New Art by Kevin and Valerie Pourier Honors Women Who Stand Up for the Rights and Welfare of Others
Blog
A Lot of Our Traditional Clothing, We Had to Fight to Keep—Fashion Designer Norma Baker-Flying Horse
Blog
Symposium—Safety for Our Sisters: Ending Violence Against Native Women
Video Playlist
Honoring Queen Liliʻuokalani
Video
The REDress Project on the National Mall Draws Attention to Life and Death Situations in Indian Country
Blog
A Place for the Taken: The REDress Project Gives a Voice to Missing Indigenous Women
Article
Mary Golda Ross: She Reached for the Stars
Article
Trajectory of the remarkable and still partly secret career of Mary Golda Ross (Cherokee), the first Native aerospace engineer and member of the top-secret team planning the early years of space exploration.
Fulfilling Her Promise: Museums Honor Native Rights Advocate Suzan Harjo
Blog
On the Western Front: Two Iroquois Nurses in World War I
Article
The story of Cora Elm (Wisconsin Oneida) and Edith Anderson (Grand River Mohawk), veterans of the Nurse Corps of the Army Medical Department in France during 1918.
To Indigenize the Western World—Artist and Organizer Jordan Cocker
Blog
Inuit Women's Survival Skills, Which Kept Arctic Explorers Alive, Help Heal Residential School Survivors
Blog
Never Underestimate the Power of Your Mind—Artist Caroline Monnet
Blog
Language Breathes Life: Women Directors' Roundtable
Video
Just doing "what I could," Wilma Mankiller changed Native America
Blog
Writing as Cathartic Practice and with Intention toward the Audience: Autumn White Eyes on Poetry
Blog
Marking the 400th Anniversary of Pocahontas's Death
Blog
The broad strokes of Pocahontas’s biography are well known—unusually so for a 17th-century Indigenous woman—yet her life has long been shrouded by misunderstandings and misinformation. The conference “Pocahontas and After,” organized by the University of London and the British Library, sought a deeper understanding of Pocahontas’s life and the lasting impact of the clash of empires that took place in the heart of the Powhatan Confederacy during the 17th-century.
The Continuing Saga of Louise Erdrich
Article
The career and inspirations of award-winning writer Louise Erdrich, from the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Band of Indians
Symposium—Strong Women/Strong Nations: Native American Women and Leadership
Video Playlist
Remembering the Vanished
Article
The crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada, and the Sisters in Spirit campaign
A World Made by Women
Article
An overwhelming percentage of the ancient and historic American Indian art in museums, both across the United States and abroad, was produced by women.
A Talk with Pena Bonita
Article
Seminole/Apache artist Pena Bonita's art attracts fans across the generations.
Zuni Olla Maidens
Video Playlist
Symposium—Kay WalkingStick, Seizing the Sky: Redefining American Art
Video Playlist
They Also Served: American Indian Women in the War of 1812
Article
The role of Six Nations women in the War of 1812
Native Chilean Women: Challenges and Opportunities (bilingual)
Video
The Role of Women in the Preservation of Indigenous Culture and Language
Pocahontas' First Marriage: The Powhatan Side of the Story
Article
In 1614, Pocahontas, daughter of the chief of the Powhatan Indians, married planter John Rolfe; but tribal oral tradition speaks of Pocahontas's first marriage to an Indian warrior named Kocoum.
Elouise Cobell: A Small Measure of Justice
Article
Elouise Cobell holds the federal government accountable for mismanagement of billions in Indian Trust Funds.
The Power of Protest Songs
Article
Buffy Sainte-Marie reflects on the history and power of protest songs.
Complexity of Ecstasy: The Life and Sainthood of St. Kateri Tekakwitha
Article
Kateri Tekakwitha, "Lily of the Mohawks," had a profound impact on the People of the Flint.