LaDonna Vita Tabbytite Harris (born February 26, 1931) is a

Comanche The Comanche or Nʉmʉnʉʉ ( com, Nʉmʉnʉʉ, "the people") are a Native American tribe from the Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the federally recognized Comanche Nation, headquartered in La ...

Native American social activist and politician from

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

.Fluharty, Sterling
Harris, LaDonna Vita Tabbytite profile
'mOklahoma Historical Society Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture''; retrieved September 16, 2010.'' She is the founder and president of Americans for Indian Opportunity.
nativeamericanrhymes.com; retrieved November 5, 2009. Harris was a

vice presidential candidate The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest officer in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks first in the presidential line of succession. The vice p ...

for the Citizens Party in the

1980 United States presidential election The 1980 United States presidential election was the 49th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 4, 1980. Republican nominee Ronald Reagan defeated incumbent Democratic President Jimmy Carter in a landslide victory. ...

alongside

Barry Commoner Barry Commoner (May 28, 1917 – September 30, 2012) was an American cellular biologist, college professor, and politician. He was a leading ecologist and among the founders of the modern environmental movement. He was the director of the ...

. She was the first Native American woman to run for vice president."LaDonna Harris 'stumbled' into a legacy of impact"
IndianCountryToday.com In 2018, she became one of the inductees in the first induction ceremony held by the National Native American Hall of Fame.

Early life

Harris was born Ladonna Vita Tabbytite, in

Temple, Oklahoma Temple is a town in Cotton County, Oklahoma, United States. It is south and east of Walters, the county seat. The population was 1,002 at the 2010 census, a decline of 12.6 percent from 1,146 at the 2000 census. The town is named for the celebr ...

, to Lilly Tabbytite (

) and Donald Crawford, a non-Native; the couple separated shortly after her birth. She was raised traditionally by her maternal grandparents in a self-governing Indigenous community on a farm near the small town of Walters, Oklahoma. She speaks Comanche as her first language. She learned English when she began attending public school. In 1949, shortly after graduating high school, she married

Fred R. Harris Fred Roy Harris (born November 13, 1930) is an American academic, author, and former politician who served as a Democratic member of the United States Senate from Oklahoma. Born in Walters, Oklahoma, Harris was elected to the Oklahoma Senate ...

. Ladonna supported Fred through college, and was very involved in his campaign for U.S. Senator. In 1964, Fred Harris was elected to the

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

, and the family, now with three children, relocated from Oklahoma to Washington D.C.

Earlier political career

While residing in Washington D.C., LaDonna Harris was able to accomplish many things with her new connections through her husband in the U.S. Senate. She founded the first intertribal organization in Oklahoma, titled the Oklahomans for Indian Opportunity (OIO), and became the first wife of a senator to testify before Congress to argue for continued funding to support indigenous tribal organizations. President Lyndon B. Johnson recognized Ms. Harris's accomplishments and her impact on Native Americans, and appointed her to the

National Council on Indian Opportunity The National Council on Indian Opportunity was an American Indian rights group established by Executive Order 11399 on March 6, 1968, and amended by an act of United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the fed ...

(NICO). With the support of President Johnson, Harris created the first Native American-education course, titled "Indian 101", to be required completion by all members of

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

. Harris taught the course herself for thirty years. She left NICO in 1970 and founded Americans for Indian Opportunity (AIO). From the 1970s to the present, she has presided over AIO, which works to advance the cultural, political and economic rights of Indigenous peoples in the U.S. and around the world. She helped found some of today's leading national Indian organizations including the National Indian Housing Council,

Council of Energy Resource Tribes The Council of Energy Resource Tribes (CERT) is a consortium of Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Native American tribes in the United States established to increase tribal control over natural resources. It was founded in September 1975Smith, Th ...

, National Tribal Environmental Council, and National Indian Business Association. She has been appointed to many Presidential Commissions, including being recognized by Vice President

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic Part ...

, in 1994, as a leader in the area of telecommunications in his remarks at the White House Tribal Summit. She was a founding member of

Common Cause Common Cause is a watchdog group based in Washington, D.C., with chapters in 35 states. It was founded in 1970 by John W. Gardner, a Republican, who was the former Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare in the administration of President L ...

and the National Urban Coalition and is a spokesperson against poverty and social injustice. As an advocate for women's rights, she was a founder of the

National Women's Political Caucus The National Women's Political Caucus (NWPC), or the Caucus, describes itself as a multi-partisan grassroots organization in the United States dedicated to recruiting, training, and supporting women who seek elected and appointed offices at all ...

Political activism

Harris helped the

Taos Pueblo Taos Pueblo (or Pueblo de Taos) is an ancient pueblo belonging to a Taos-speaking (Tiwa) Native American tribe of Puebloan people. It lies about north of the modern city of Taos, New Mexico. The pueblos are considered to be one of the oldest c ...

regain control of Blue Lake, and she helped the Menominee tribe gain

federal recognition This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States of America. There are also federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. , 574 Indian tribes were legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the United ...

after their tribe had been terminated by the US federal government. She was an original member of Global Tomorrow Coalition, the U.S. Representative to the OAS Inter-American Indigenous Institute, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). In the 1960s, Harris, as the wife of a United States Senator, lived in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

and was in constant social and political contact with the top echelons of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

, up to and including President Lyndon B. Johnson and the

First Lady First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non-monarchical A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state fo ...

. At the same time, her daughter Kathryn - at the time a university student - was deeply involved in the

Anti war movement A peace movement is a social movement which seeks to achieve ideals, such as the ending of a particular war (or wars) or minimizing inter-human violence in a particular place or situation. They are often linked to the goal of achieving world pea ...

opposing the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

, which was conducted by the same President Johnson. Kathryn used to bring home other student activists to stay the night, and used the parental home as an unofficial headquarters where activists prepared for the next day's demonstrations and confrontations with police - with the tacit consent of her parents. With the end of her husband's Congressional career, LaDonna Harris moved away from mainstream politics within the Democratic Party. In 1980, as the vice presidential nominee on the Citizens Party ticket with

, Harris added environmental issues to the national debate and future presidential campaigns. Although Harris was the first Indigenous woman to run for vice president, she was replaced on the ballot in

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

Wretha Hanson Wretha Hanson is the director of the Franz Bader Gallery in Washington, D.C. and was the former wife of George Wiley. In 1980 she was the alternate Vice Presidential nominee of the short-lived Citizens Party as the running mate of Barry Commo ...

. Harris endorsed

Bernie Sanders Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician who has served as the junior United States senator from Vermont since 2007. He was the U.S. representative for the state's at-large congressional district from 1991 to 2007 ...

for president during the 2016 Democratic presidential primaries. She was an honorary co-chair of the

Women's March on Washington Women's March may refer to: * Women's March on Versailles, a 1789 march in Paris * Women's Sunday, a 1908 suffragette march in London * Woman Suffrage Procession, a 1913 march and rally in Washington, D.C. * Women's March (South Africa), a 1956 ma ...

, which took place on January 21, 2017, the day after the inauguration of

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

as president.

Community involvement

Harris served on the boards of the

Girl Scouts of the USA Girl Scouts of the United States of America (GSUSA), commonly referred to as simply Girl Scouts, is a youth organization for girls in the United States and American girls living abroad. Founded by Juliette Gordon Low in 1912, it was organized a ...

Independent Sector Independent Sector is a coalition of nonprofits, foundations and corporate giving programs. Founded in 1980, it is the first organization to combine the grant seekers and grantees. Located in Washington, D.C., Independent Sector largely works on f ...

Council on Foundations The Council on Foundations, founded in 1949, is a nonprofit leadership association of grantmaking foundations and corporations. The Council's mission is to provide the opportunity, leadership, and tools needed by philanthropic organizations to exp ...

, National Organization for Women, National Urban League,

Save the Children The Save the Children Fund, commonly known as Save the Children, is an international non-governmental organization established in the United Kingdom in 1919 to improve the lives of children through better education, health care, and economic ...

, National Committee Against Discrimination in Housing, and Overseas Development Corporation. Currently, she serves on the boards of Advancement of Maori Opportunity,

Institute for 21st Century Agoras An institute is an organisational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institute, research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countr ...

, National Senior Citizens Law Center, and Think New Mexico. She serves on the advisory boards of the National Museum of the American Indian,

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...

, Delphi International Group, and National Institute for Women of Color. She is an honorary Member of

Delta Sigma Theta Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. () is a historically African American sorority. The organization was founded by college-educated women dedicated to public service with an emphasis on programs that assist the African American community. Delta ...

sorority.

Adoption of Johnny Depp

After reading interviews of the filming of the 2013 movie '' The Lone Ranger'', and that

Johnny Depp John Christopher Depp II (born June 9, 1963) is an American actor and musician. He is the recipient of multiple accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award, in addition to nominations for three Academy Award ...

's reprisal of the role of 'Tonto' would be as a

, Harris decided to adopt Depp as an honorary son, making him an honorary member of her family but not an enrolled member of any tribe. She discussed the idea with her adult children, and they agreed. A unique adoption ceremony took place on May 16, 2012, at Harris's home in

Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...

, attended by the cultural advisor for ''The Lone Ranger'' and an official from the tribe. "Welcoming Johnny into the family in the traditional way was so fitting... He's a very thoughtful human being, and throughout his life and career, he has exhibited traits that are aligned with the values and worldview that Indigenous peoples share", Harris said."Johnny Depp made honorary member of Comanche Native American tribe"

The Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

, May 22, 2012. Critical coverage of Depp in Indian Country increased after this, including satirical portrayals of Depp by Native comedians. Harris also supported Depp when an ad featuring Depp and Native American imagery, by

Dior Christian Dior SE (), commonly known as Dior (stylized DIOR), is a French Luxury goods, luxury fashion house controlled and chaired by French businessman Bernard Arnault, who also heads LVMH, the world's largest luxury group. Dior itself holds ...

for the fragrance "Sauvage", was pulled on August 30, 2019, after charges of

cultural appropriation Cultural appropriation is the inappropriate or unacknowledged adoption of an element or elements of one culture or identity by members of another culture or identity. This can be controversial when members of a dominant culture appropriate from ...

and racism. In the original Radio Broadcast, Tonto was identified as being

Potawatomi The Potawatomi , also spelled Pottawatomi and Pottawatomie (among many variations), are a Native American people of the western Great Lakes region, upper Mississippi River and Great Plains. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a m ...

Family life

Harris has raised three children: Kathryn Tijerina is executive director of the Railyard Park Trust in Santa Fe; Byron is a technician in television production in Los Angeles; and Laura works with her mother as the executive director at AIO. Harris' grandson, Sam Fred Goodhope, calls her by the Comanche word for grandmother, Kaqu.

Filmography

Selected publications

* * *

References

External links

Americans for Indian Opportunity
Official Website

Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture
Voices of Oklahoma interview.
First person interview conducted on September 21, 2017, with LaDonna Harris.
Interview with Ladonna Harris
by Stephen McKiernan, Binghamton University Libraries Center for the Study of the 1960s, March 8, 2011 {{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Ladonna 1931 births Living people American autobiographers Citizens Party (United States) politicians Comanche people Native American activists Native American candidates for Vice President of the United States Native American women writers People from Cotton County, Oklahoma 1980 United States vice-presidential candidates 20th-century American politicians Women in Oklahoma politics Female candidates for Vice President of the United States Women autobiographers Native American women in politics Oklahoma Democrats 20th-century American women politicians American women non-fiction writers Johnny Depp Writers from Oklahoma 20th-century Native American women 20th-century Native Americans 21st-century Native American women 21st-century Native Americans