Marie Elena Brady Sanchez (born Juanita Marie Brady, ''

Cheyenne The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enroll ...

'': ''Otseohtse’e''; April 30, 1939 - August 9, 2019), was an American

, Chief Judge of the

Northern Cheyenne Tribe The Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation ( chy, Tsėhéstáno; formerly named the Tongue River) is the federally recognized Northern Cheyenne tribe. Located in southeastern Montana, the reservation is approximately ...

, a

human rights activist A human rights defender or human rights activist is a person who, individually or with others, acts to promote or protect human rights. They can be journalists, environmentalists, whistleblowers, trade unionists, lawyers, teachers, housing campai ...

for

indigenous people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

and a

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

Early life

Marie Sanchez was born as Juanita Marie Brady on April 30, 1939 in

Lame Deer Lame Deer (1821-1877), also called "The Elk that Whistles Running," was a first chief of the Miniconjou Lakota (trans. "They who plant by the water") and vice chief of the Wakpokinyan (trans. "To Fly along the river") band. Biography Lame Deer ...

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

. Her

name is ''Otseohtse’e''. Her father was James Brady and her mother was Mary Alice Woodenthigh. She was a direct descendent of Chief

Little Wolf Little Wolf (''Cheyenne'': ''Ó'kôhómôxháahketa'', sometimes transcribed ''Ohcumgache'' or ''Ohkomhakit'', more correctly translated Little Coyote, 18201904) was a Northern Só'taeo'o Chief and Sweet Medicine Chief of the Northern Cheyenne. ...

from her mother's side. Her great-grandfather Hugh Woodenthigh was the son of Chief Little Wolf of the

Northern Cheyenne The Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation ( chy, Tsėhéstáno; formerly named the Tongue River) is the federally recognized Northern Cheyenne tribe. Located in southeastern Montana, the reservation is approximately ...

. On September 13, 1942, she was baptized at St. Labre Parish as Marie Elena Brady. She married Charles T. Sanchez Sr.

Career

Throughout her life she was an advocate for

's rights and the

Cheyenne language The Cheyenne language (, ) (informal spelling Tsisinstsistots), is the Native American language spoken by the Cheyenne people, predominantly in present-day Montana and Oklahoma, in the United States. It is part of the Algonquian language fami ...

. She was a Chief Judge of the

and a teacher at

Montana State University Montana State University (MSU) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Bozeman, Montana. It is the state's largest university. MSU offers baccalaureate degrees in 60 fields, master's degrees in 6 ...

and at

Chief Dull Knife College Chief Dull Knife College is a public tribal land-grant community college on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in Lame Deer, Montana. It is an open-admission college with about 141 students. On average, more than half of its graduates move ...

. She was also a linguist and a contributor to the Cheyenne Dictionary by Wayne Leman. As a human rights defender she was an active member of the

International Indian Treaty Council The International Indian Treaty Council (IITC) is an organization of Indigenous Peoples from North, Central, South America, the Caribbean and the Pacific working for the Sovereignty and Self-Determination of Indigenous Peoples and the recognition ...

NOW Now most commonly refers to the present time. Now, NOW, or The Now may also refer to: Organizations * Natal Organisation of Women, a South African women's organization * National Organization for Women, an American feminist organization * Now ...

and the Elk Horn Scrapers. She was a board member of the National Board of Research on the Plutonium Economy, the Native American Student Council (NASC) and the Native American Solidarity Committee. In the 1970s, she protested against some sterilization procedures for tribal members in the 1970s that were performed in reservation hospitals and off-reservation hospitals contracted by the federal government. In 1974, she was a co-founder of

Women of All Red Nations Women of All Red Nations (WARN) was a Native American women's organization. It was established in 1974 by Lorelei DeCora Means, Madonna Thunderhawk, Phyllis Young, Janet McCloud, Marie Sanchez and others. WARN included more than 300 women from ...

(WARN) and soon thereafter a member of the advisory board of the

National Women's Health Network The National Women's Health Network (NWHN) is a non-profit women's health advocacy organization located in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1975 by Barbara Seaman, Alice Wolfson, Belita Cowan, Mary Howell, and Phyllis Chesler. The stated missi ...

. On December 8, 1976, she appeared on the

PBS Newshour ''PBS NewsHour'' is an American evening television news program broadcast on over 350 PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virg ...

show The MacNeil/Lehrer Report with

Robert MacNeil Robert Breckenridge Ware MacNeil, OC (born January 19, 1931) is a Canadian-American journalist and writer. He is a retired television news anchor who partnered with Jim Lehrer to create ''The MacNeil/Lehrer Report'' in 1975. Early life and ed ...

and

Jim Lehrer James Charles Lehrer (; May 19, 1934 – January 23, 2020) was an American journalist, novelist, screenwriter, and playwright. Lehrer was the executive editor and a news anchor for the ''PBS NewsHour'' on PBS and was known for his role as a deb ...

. They discussed involuntary sterilization on the reservation and in

Lame Deer, Montana Lame Deer (Meaveʼhoʼeno in Cheyenne) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Rosebud County, Montana, United States. The community is named after Miniconjou Lakota chief Lame Deer, who was killed by the U.S. Army in 1877 under a flag of truce sout ...

. The reservation only had 2400 people in 1976. On April, 15, 1977 she appeared on the television show called ''Woman'' of

WNED-TV WNED-TV (channel 17) is a PBS member television station in Buffalo, New York, United States. It is owned by the Western New York Public Broadcasting Association (doing business as Buffalo Toronto Public Media) alongside NPR member WBFO (88.7 F ...

and discussed in-depth the concerns of American Indian women. In 1977 she gained fame as a speaker at the

Conference on Indians in the Americas The first United Nations Conference on Indians in the Americas was held in Geneva in 1977. It was organised by Jimmie Durham, head of the International Indian Treaty Council, with Mapuche leaders exiled from Chile under Pinochet and supported by t ...

of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

. She discussed the preservation of native American culture and languages, sovereignty and the rights of Indigenous women. During the conference she mentioned the

Family Planning Services and Population Research Act of 1970 The Title X Family Planning Program is the only federal grant program dedicated to providing individuals with comprehensive family planning and related preventive health services. It was enacted under President Richard Nixon in 1970 as part of th ...

which was enacted by the

Nixon administration Richard Nixon's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 37th president of the United States began with First inauguration of Richard Nixon, his first inauguration on January 20, 1969, and ended when he resigned on August 9, 1974 ...

. In a span of 6 years it resulted in circa 25% involuntary sterilization of Native American women and called it modern

genocide Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Latin ...

. She argued that it was one of many injustices committed against indigenous people through American history. Such as the

forced displacement Forced displacement (also forced migration) is an involuntary or coerced movement of a person or people away from their home or home region. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR defines 'forced displacement' as follows: dis ...

and relocation of native Americans to reservations caused health disasters in the 19th century. By the late 1970s their activism enabled some improvement of federal regulations to reduce unwanted sterilization procedures.

Death

She died at 80 years old on August 9, 2019 and is survived by her 8 children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanchez, Marie 1939 births 2019 deaths Northern Cheyenne people Female Native American leaders People from Rosebud County, Montana 20th-century Native American women 20th-century Native Americans 21st-century Native American women 21st-century Native Americans