The North American Indian Women's Association (NA
IWA) is a non-profit educational and service association, which seeks to promote intertribal communications, betterment of home, family life and community, betterment of health and education, awareness of
Indian cultures, and fellowship among North
American Indian people. NAIWA was founded in the summer of 1970 and was the first national Native American women's group.
Marie Cox (
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 ...
), from Midwest City, Oklahoma, served as founding president at the inaugural meeting, which was held in Fort Collins, Colorado. During the 1970s adoption reform was one of its greatest concerns. Cox's presidency was followed by
Agnes Dill of the
Isleta Pueblo in New Mexico in 1973, who was in turn succeeded by
Mary Jane Fate (
Koyukon Athabaskan
Athabaskan (also spelled ''Athabascan'', ''Athapaskan'' or ''Athapascan'', and also known as Dene) is a large family of indigenous languages of North America, located in western North America in three areal language groups: Northern, Pacific C ...
) from Fairbanks, Alaska, in 1975. Only women from federally recognized Indian tribes can be members.
Britannica
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The association named Muriel Hazel Wright the outstanding Indian woman of the 20th century in 1971.[Muriel Hazel Wright]
Joey Horsley, FemBio.org, retrieved 8 February 2015
References
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Native American women's organizations
Organizations established in 1970