Tillie Black Bear addresses the Northern Michigan University 2008 UNITED Conference

Tillie Black Bear is the executive director and one of the founders (31 years ago) of the White Buffalo Calf Woman Society, Inc. (WBCWS) that serves the Lakota Sioux Rosebud Reservation in Mission, S.D.

Watch the video on bliptv:

Watch the video on youtube:

She spoke to the Northern Michigan University 2008 Uniting Neighbors in the Experience of Diversity (UNITED) Conference on September 23, 2008.

This is the first of several videos about her talk in the Great Lakes Room of the NMU University center and a roundtable discussion that followed down the hall.

In this video, Black Bear is introduced to the northern Michigan audience and sings the “Direction Song.”

With traditional sage burning, Black Bear sings as she and the crowd face the four directions - West, North, East, South - and honor the Sky and Earth.

Her visit was coordinated by the NMU Center for Native American Studies and the non-profit Turtle Island Project in Munising, Michigan.

The Turtle Island Project (TIP) has held several concerts and other events to raises funds for the WBCWS. TIP Director Rev. Dr. Lynn Hubbard travels several times a year to the Rosebud Reservation.

Black Bear was greeted by Dr. Judith Puncochar, an NMU Professor and an organizer of the annual UNITED Conference

Tillie Black Bear was introduced by Grace Chaillier, an NMU Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Center for Native American Studies and a registered member of the Sicangu Lakota band of the Rosebud Sioux - the same tribe as Black Bear.

Please watch the other Turtle Island Project videos on Tillie Black Bear's talk in northern Michigan.

Black Bear addresses the Lakota teen suicide crisis, domestic violence, people respecting people and many other important issues.

The Turtle Island Project thanks Tillie Black Bear, NMU Center for Native American Studies, Uniting Neighbors in the Experience of Diversity (UNITED) and White Buffalo Calf Woman Society, Inc.
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Tillie Black Bear. Executive Director
White Buffalo Calf Woman Society, Inc.

October is Domestic Violence Month

Tillie Black Bear is an enrolled member of the Sicangu Lakota Nation/Rosebud Sioux Tribe.

She is presently the Executive Director of the White Buffalo Calf Woman Society, Inc., which operates the oldest shelter for women who have been battered or raped on Indian reservations; and is the first shelter for women of color in the U.S. (1978).

Tillie Black Bear is recognized throughout the state, nationally, and in Indian Country as one of the leading experts on violence against women and children.

She is a founding mother of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV) and a founder of the South Dakota Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (SDCADV&SA) both in 1978.

She was the first woman of color to chair NCADV and continues to sit on the Board of Director for the SDCADV&SA.

Black Bear presently serves on the advisory board of National Sexual Assault Resource Center, Pennsylvania and is past member of the professional advisory board of the National Domestic Violence Hotline, Austin, TX.

Tillie Black Bear is pictured on Sept. 23, 2008 in Marquette, MI with Dr. José Cuellar of La Raza Studies at San Francisco State University, who spoke on "The Four Enemies of Diversity."

Black Bear and Dr. Cuellar were both featured speakers at the 2008 UNITED Conference at Northern Michigan University.

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Black Bear is currently a council member for Clan Star a technical resources for tribal grantees through Department of Justice.

Tillie Black Bear was the recipient of an award from the U.S. Department of Justice for her work with victims of crime in April,1988; and in 1989 was one of President Bush’s “Point of Light”.

In 1999 at the Millennium Conference on Domestic Violence in Chicago, IL, Black Bear was one of 10 individuals recognized as one of the founders of the domestic violence movement in the United States.

She was awarded an Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award in December, 2000 by President Clinton.

In May, 2003 Black Bear was a recipient of the first annual LifeTime Achievement Award from LifeTime Television.

Black Bear was selected as one of “21 Leaders for the 21st Century award by Women’s eNews in 2004.

In 2005, she received an award from NOW.

She is retired from Sinte Gleska University as a part-time instructor in Human Services; Casey Foundation as a licensed foster parent.

Currently, Black Bear works as a teacher of 13 years teaching students taking a course on cross-cultural ministry at Catholic Theological Union through Shalom Ministries out of Chicago, IL.

Black Bear and colleague Sally Roesch Wagner, Ph.D. have completed a poster series on D/Lakota women elders on each of the nine Dakota/Lakota Nations in South Dakota entitled: “D/Lakota Women – Keepers of the Nation”.

Another collaborative work is workshops on issues of Racism and Cultural Diversity, which has taken them to South Dakota, Vermont, New York, Minnesota, Nebraska and Iowa.

Black Bear has worked as a therapist, certified school counselor, administrator, college instructor and comptroller.

She holds a Master of Art (1974) from the University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD; Bachelor of Science (1971), Northern State University, Aberdeen, SD.

She has served on the St. Francis Indian School Board of Directors, St. Francis, SD; and Sinte Gleska University Board of Regents, Mission, SD.

Black Bear is single mother of 3 girls, grandmother of thirteen and survivor of domestic violence.
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Related Links:

NMU Center for Native American Studies

Center for Native American Studies
Northern Michigan University
1401 Presque Isle Avenue
Marquette, MI
49855

(906) 227-1397
(906) 227-1396 (fax)
e-mail:
nasa@nmu.edu

April Lindala, Director
112F Whitman Hall

(906) 227-1397
(906) 227-1396 (fax)
e-mail:
alindala@nmu.edu
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Grace Chaillier
NMU Adjunct Assistant Professor
Sicangu Lakota band of the Rosebud Sioux
112G Whitman Hall

(906) 227-1390
e-mail:
grachail@nmu.edu
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White Buffalo Calf Woman Society, Inc. (WBCWS)

PO Box 227
Mission, S.D.
57555

For more info on the WBCWS:

Javier H. Alegree
Public Relations Specialist
Media and Education

(605) 856-2317
(605) 856-2494 (fax)

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Official website of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe - Sicangu Lakota
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Uniting Neighbors in the Experience of Diversity (UNITED):
Northern Michigan University
September 21-23, 2008
Other UNITED links:

http://webb.nmu.edu/UNITED/SiteSections/2008Schedule.shtml
http://webb.nmu.edu/Webb/PDFs/UNITED/UNITED_2008.pdf
http://webb.nmu.edu/UNITED/SiteSections/GD989.shtml

Organizers:
Dr. Judith Puncochar
NMU Professor
906-227-1366
e-mail:
jpuncoch @nmu
(close above gap to email Dr. Puncochar)
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Turtle Island Project
137 East Onota Street
Munising, MI.
49862

Rev. Dr. Lynn Hubbard, TIP Co-founder, Director

Rev. Dr. George Cairns, TIP Co-Founder, Board President

Turtle Island Project Director Rev. Dr. Lynn Hubbard of Munising, MI was a guest speaker at the 2007 and 2008 UNITED Conference at NMU. Rev. Hubbard is pastor of the Eden on the Bay Lutheran Church in Munising, MI.

Please see the videos on his talks on TIP TV.

For more information on the TIP call 906-202-0590 or 906-401-0109.

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Turtle Island TV (blipTV)

Turtle Island TV (youtube)

Turtle Island (myspace)

email:
TurtleIslandProject@charter.net

In recent years, the Turtle Island Project has held several free concerts and other events to raise money for the White Buffalo Calf Woman Society. This concert was held in Munising Michigan in Dec. 2007

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Anishinaabe News:
NMU Native American student-run newspaper
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Copy and paste any of these web addresses to read more about the Lakota (and other Native American tribes) Prayer & Song to the Four Directions:

http://www.bci.org/prophecy-fulfilled/wbcalf.htm
http://www.manataka.org/page696.html
http://1onewolf.com/lakota/spirit1.htm
http://www.lakotabooks.com/news.htm
http://www.jstor.org/pss/3317793
http://www.aktalakota.org/index.cfm?cat=54&artid=130
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb5088/is_/ai_n25221365
http://music.msn.com/music/album/calvin-standing-bear/wakan-olowan-lakota-pipe-ceremonial-and-spiritual-songs
http://musicishere.com/artists/Calvin_Standing_Bear/Wakan_Olowan-Lakota_Pipe_Ceremonial_&_Spiritual_Songs
http://payplay.fm/cstandingbear
http://www.imeem.com/shantiliu/music/yADoFkws/native_americans_prayer_for_the_four_directions
http://audreysblog.yuku.com/topic/403
http://www.highonlife1.com/four_directions_prayer.htm
http://music.yahoo.com/track/1452994
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Lakota Sioux & Rosebud Reservation:
http://www.rosebudsiouxtribe-nsn.gov/history.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosebud_Indian_Reservation
http://www.tradecorridor.com/rosebud/spirit.htm
http://www.sicangufund.org/rosebud/index.html
http://www.travelsd.com/ourhistory/sioux/tribes/rosebud.asp
http://pie.midco.net/lmrose/sicangu.htm
http://www.tolweb.org/treehouses/?treehouse_id=4571
http://www.nps.gov/archive/jeff/LewisClark2/TheJourney/NativeAmericans/LakotaSioux.htm
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