Lake Superior // Current

Tillie Black Bear Sings Directions prayer at Northern Michigan University 2008 UNI...

Tillie Black Bear is the Ex. Dir. and a founder (31 years ago) of the White Buffalo Calf Woman Society, Inc. (WBCWS) serving the Lakota Sioux Rosebud Reservation in Mission, SD
She spoke to the Northern Michigan University 2008 Uniting Neighbors in the Experience of Diversity (UNITED) Conference on Sept. 23, 2008.
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 (TIP) in Munising, MI. The TIP has held several concerts and other events to raises funds for the WBCWS. TIP Dir. Rev. Dr. Lynn Hubbard travels several times a year to the Rosebud Reservation. Black Bear was greeted by Dr. Judith Puncochar, NMU Professor & 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 registered member of the Sicangu Lakota band of the Rosebud Sioux.
Black Bear is a member of the Sicangu Lakota Nation/Rosebud Sioux Tribe and a leading expert on violence against women and children. She's 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). She's the first woman of color to chair NCADV and is on the SDCADV&SA Board of Directors.
Black Bear is on the advisory board of National Sexual Assault Resource Center, Pennsylvania and a past member of the professional advisory board of the National Domestic Violence Hotline, Austin, TX. Black Bear received the 1988 U.S. Department of Justice award for work with crime victims and is one of President Bush’s 1989 “Points of Light”.
Black Bear is one of 10 people recognized as a founder of the domestic violence movement in the U.S. at the 1999 Millennium Conference on Domestic Violence in Chicago, IL; received an Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award in 2000 by President Clinton and was a recipient of the first annual LifeTime Achievement Award from LifeTime Television. She is one of 21 Leaders for the 21st Century award by Women’s eNews in 2004. She received a 2005 award from NOW & is retired from Sinte Gleska University as a part-time instructor in Human Services; Casey Foundation as a licensed foster parent. She's a teacher of 13 years including a course on cross-cultural ministry at Catholic Theological Union through Shalom Ministries in Chicago, IL. Black Bear and colleague Sally Roesch Wagner, Ph.D. have completed a poster series on Lakota women elders on each of the nine Dakota/Lakota Nations in South Dakota entitled: Lakota Women – Keepers of the Nation. She organizes workshops on issues of Racism and Cultural Diversity, is 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.

NMU Center for Native American Studies
www.nmu.edu/Centers/NativeAmericanStudies
nasa@nmu.edu
April Lindala, Director
906-227-1397
Grace Chaillier, NMU Professor

WBCWS
www.wbcws.org
Javier H. Alegree, WBCWS Public Relations Specialist
605-856-2317
Rosebud Sioux Tribe Sicangu Lakota
www.rosebudsiouxtribe-nsn.gov

UNITED
www.nmu.edu/UNITED

Turtle Island Project Munising, MI
Co-founders Rev. Dr. Lynn Hubbard, Rev. Dr. George Cairns
http://turtleislandtv.blip.tv
www.youtube.com/MunisingWhiteHorse
www.myspace.com/TurtleIslandProject
TurtleIslandProject@charter.net Tillie Black Bear is the Ex. Dir. and a founder (31 years ago) of the White Buffalo Calf Woman Society, Inc. (WBCWS) serving the Lakot... more