While campaigning for tribal self-determination, she became the first woman to lead the Menominee tribe and the first woman to run the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Her godson Ben Wikler, the chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, confirmed her death but did not cite a cause.
“It was a cultural, economic, and political disaster that struck deep into the hearts of the Menominee — a violation of our treaties and a betrayal of the government’s responsibilities to our tribe,” Ms. DeerIn 1970, while in her mid-30s, she partnered with other organizers to launch an advocacy group called Determination of Rights and Unity for Menominee Stockholders, or DRUMS, which fought to prevent the sale of tribal land.
Campaigning on a platform that called for universal health insurance and cuts to defense spending, she stunned Wisconsin political analysts with her Democratic primary victory over state lawmaker David Clarenbach. Addressing her supporters in a victory speech, she declared, “I’ve been waiting a long time to say this: Me, nominee!” The line, a riff on her tribe’s name, appeared on the front page of the Wisconsin State Journal the next day.As in her earlier races, Ms.
Ms. Deer’s mother came from a White Quaker family in Philadelphia and left home to work as a nurse with the BIA. She went on to embrace her husband’s Menominee culture and taught Ms. Deer to do the same, bringing her to tribal meetings when she was as young as 4.
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