Native America Calling: Remembering Ada Deer

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Friday, September 1, 2023

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Remembering Ada Deer

Ada Deer was a pioneer in education as a lecturer and researcher in social work and Native American Studies at the University of Madison-Wisconsin.

She was also renowned for her tireless advocacy and policy work. She was instrumental in achieving federal recognition for Alaska Native villages, her own Menominee Tribe and several others. Along the way, she helped dismantle the federal Termination Era.

Deer was the first Native woman to run for Congress in Wisconsin. She lost the election, but went on to hold a number of influential positions including Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs.

Ada Deer delivers a keynote at the Department of Agriculture headquarters in Washington, D.C., during a Native American Heritage Month celebration on November 13, 2014. Photo: Bob Nichols / U.S. Department of Agriculture

Guests on Native America Calling

Gwen Carr (Cayuga Nation), executive director of the Carlisle Indian School Project

Assistant Secretary Bryan Newland (Bay Mills Indian Community), Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs in the U.S. Department of the Interior

Chief Mike Williams Sr. (Yupiaq)

Joe Deer (Menominee Tribe), nephew of Ada Deer, retired coast guard captain, Iraq War veteran, and commercial pilot