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Women's History Month


Marie Dorion (Iowa Tribes)​, a native woman, was revered in the time of the mass migration to the Oregon Territory. She and her family assisted many of the sick and abandoned children and immigrants who arrived in Oregon with little or no knowledge of how to make a life in the new environment. There is a statue of her in Idaho and a women’s dormitory in Eastern Oregon University is named after her.


​Winema Toby Riddle(Modoc) was a Tribal leader in Oregon who was distinguished by Congressional act for her actions in a time of war. She and her husband acted as interpreters, messengers and mediators between her people and the U.S. Army during the Modoc War of 1872. The Winema National Forest in Southern Oregon was established in 1961 and named after her.


Native Women Workforce - ​During World War II, Chemawa Indian School near Salem sent about forty students to a training facility in Eugene. Women were included in the training programs to make up for the shortage of male laborers who had enlisted in the military. The Bureau of Indian Affairs fully supported the integration of Native women into the American workforce and armed forces. After the war, many Native American women returned to reservations and used their skills to seek new work and leadership opportunities.


Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women​ - Five years ago, Mildred Quaempts (Yakama & Cayuse) and Merle Kirk (Warm Springs) asked Oregon legislators for help. During a House committee hearing in February 2019, they told the story of the women in their family who have disappeared or were murdered over the last 60 years. In 2019, Oregon lawmakers declared Missing and Murdered Women a statewide emergency. House Bill 2625, signed by the governor in May of that year, directed Oregon State Police to study how to combat the unsolved killings and disappearances of Native Americans.




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