Winona laduke
Life trait
August 18, 1959, Winona was born in Los Angles to Betty LaDuke, an American artist, and Vincent LaDuke from the Gaa-waabaabiganikaag reservation in Minnesota (the White Earth Indian Reservation of the Ojibwe nation).
1964, her parents split up and Winona moved to Ashland with her mother, where native people hardly existed.
In her high school, Winona joined the debate team.
After graduating from the high school, Winona was enrolled into Harvard University, where she was inspired by Jimmy Durham's speech.
"It was like a curtain getting lifted. In white public schools, we were taught about 'Indian problems.' Then here was this guy saying that it wasn't an Indian problem, it had to do with U.S. policy. It was a historic problem, with an association to colonialism, that affected Asians, Indians, and Aboriginals."
In 1982, Winona graduated from Harvard University with B.A. in rural economic development.
