History That's More Than 2-Dimensional.

Collection: Indigenous Peoples

Native American Maize Goddess

This mythical Native American woman saved her loved ones from starvation with delicious magical leprosy - a fact that led to, shall we say, complications.

Te Ao-Kapurangi (19th century)

The Mother Who Stuffed Her House

Abducted from her tribe, this Maori woman managed to save her kinsmen and stop a war - by straddling a roof and cramming the house underneath.

Susan la Flesche Picotte (1865-1915)

The Mom Who Built a Hospital

The first Native American medical doctor endured back-breaking labor, years spent alone, and institutional racism to better the lives of her people.

Sacajawea (1788-1812)

The Mom Who Mapped America

One of the most famous women in American history, this hyper-capable Shoshone woman walked across America with a baby strapped to her back, in order to map it.

Molly Craig (c.1917-2004)

The Mother Who Walked Across Australia (Twice)

The daughter of an aboriginal woman and a white man, her race led her to be kidnapped by the Australian government - only for her to escape and walk across the continent to get home... twice.

Juana Azurduy de Padilla (1780-1862)

The Mother of Bolivian Independence

This revolutionary (and mother of five) should have been the namesake of Bolivia - and that's the opinion of Simon Bolivar, the actual namesake of Bolivia!

Jigonhsaseh (12th century CE)

Mother of Nations

This Native American clan mother brought together 5 tribes under the Haudenosaunee Confederacy - and helped make the document that inspired the United States Constitution.

Ada Blackjack (1898-1983)

The Mother Who Survived the Arctic

The lone survivor of an ill-fated scientific expedition, this Inuit woman persevered for two years on a remote arctic island in order to get money to treat her ill son.

Malinche (c.1496-1529)

The Maligned Mother of Mexico

Sold into sexual slavery to Hernan Cortes, this maligned woman became his interpreter, and it was with her words that the Aztec Empire fell.

Xtabay (Mesoamerican myth)

Siren of the Yucatan

Chaste and virtuous woman spends life assuming she’s better than her more sex-positive neighbor, and for this haughtiness becomes in death a demonic woman who lures wayward men to their death – a stunning indigenous inversion of the Madonna/whore complex.