‘Indigenous Matriarchs Rising’ celebrates Women’s History Month

A member of the Two Kettle Band of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, LeBeau served as a nurse caring for those wounded at Omaha Beach during the D-Day invasion. She later served on the front lines during the Battle of the Bulge. LeBeau celebrated her 100th birthday in October, 2019. LeBeau will headline the celebration “Indigenous Matriarchs Rising” in honor of Women’s History Month at Birdcage Bookstore on March 14.

RAPID CITY – Marcella LeBeau, the oldest living tribal member on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation, is set to headline a celebration of the annual nationwide Women’s History Month here on March 14.
The event “Indigenous Matriarchs Rising” offers an admission-free talking circle discussion on “defining the roll of a matriarch in our communities,” according to host Lily Mendoza, social entrepreneur and owner of the Bird Cage Book Store and Mercantile, where it is scheduled from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Native Sun News Today Columnist Elizabeth Cook-Lynn is slated to join LeBeau. Award-winning artist and poet Sandy Swallow-Morgan is invited, as well as others distinguished elders and guests.
In addition, mental health counselor Carla Douglas has scheduled a presentation and workshop from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. entitled “Life and Hope after Trauma.”
LeBeau, 100, served as a nurse at the Battle of the Bulge during World War II. She is a member of the Two Kettle Band from Eagle Butte. A former Tribal Council member, she received the National Congress of American Indians’ Special Recognition Award in February.
Cook-Lynn, 89, a member of the Sisseton Santee Dakota Band raised on the Crow Creek Indian Reservation, is a writer, poet, and professor emerita of Native American Studies at Eastern Washington University.
Swallow-Morgan, 70, is an Oglala Lakota tribal member with Northern Cheyenne and Rosebud roots, is known for wood-block prints and painting that have garnered recognition at Native CAIRNS and Indian art markets nationwide. Her blogging with “Insights of a Lakota Unci” has led her to expand into digital forums.
Douglas, a First Nations of British Columbia woman and proprietor of Douglas Mental Health Services, shares her professional experience educating on issues of LGBTQ/transgender and two-spirit perspectives, suicide, sexual abuse, sex trafficking, grief, bereavement, and crisis intervention.
She is offering counselors “to chat and support” community members affected by these issues.
Music, with Cheyenne River Sioux tribal member Mendoza and singer-songwriter Linda Boyle, is part of the agenda, as well as readings, poetry, art, and commemorative t-shirt sales.
The Bird Cage Book Store specializes in Northern Plains Native American authors and titles. To open it, Mendoza applied her ample experience as a bookseller at Borders in Rapid City and Word Carrier Trading Post on Indian reservations.
The store hosts book signings, book club meetings, poetry and other community events. It is home to the annual June “Indigenous Writers Festival” and provided the impetus for former Rapid City Mayor Steve Allender’s proclamation of June 24 as Indigenous Authors Day.
It is located at the landmark Aby’s Feed and Seed former grain elevator adjacent to Racing Magpie Art Gallery, 406th Fifth St.

(Contact Talli Nauman at talli.nauman@gmail.com)

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