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The Dartmouth
July 21, 2025 | Latest Issue
The Dartmouth

Montgomery fellow Deer discusses activist career

Ada Deer, this term's Montgomery fellow, explained that it was her mother's influence that led her to become an advocate for Native Americans in her Tuesday lecture, "Seeking Social Justice: Indians, Women and the Politics of Change." Deer, a feminist and a Native American activist, championed social change as chair of the Menominee tribe from 1974 to 1976, and later as head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs under former President Bill Clinton.

Deer, now 73, grew up on a reservation in Keshena, Wisconsin ,where she lived with her parents and four siblings in a log cabin with no indoor plumbing or electricity, she said.

After she received a scholarship to attend college from her tribe in Wisconsin, Deer became the first Native American woman to graduate from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

She later became the first Menominee to receive a master's degree when she graduated from the School of Social Work at Columbia University.

"I decided I didn't want to be poor," she said in an interview with The Dartmouth. "I also decided that my brothers and sisters should not be poor, and that education was the way to go."

Deer joked that the scholarship her tribe gave her, $90 per semester to cover the cost of tuition at Madison, was a smart investment, as her later work helped the Menominees to gain millions of dollars in federal aid.

Upon leaving graduate school, Deer returned to serve her tribe. She said she was instrumental in convincing the federal government to pass the 1972 Menominee Restoration Act, which returned sovereignty to the Menominee tribe following federal derecognition.

As the head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, a position she held from 1993 to 1997, Deer worked to address perceived problems with government services to Native Americans, including health care and education, she said. These programs are chronically underfunded, she added.

Deer urged students to be proactive in their communities and seek to influence social change. Women must work to become equally represented in government, Deer said, noting that there are only 17 female U.S. senators and 74 female U.S. representatives. In many Native American cultures, Deer noted, women govern tribes and pass their culture to the next generation.

Deer praised Dartmouth for its perceived focus on Native American education, describing the College's founding charter as "unique" because it explicitly mentions "Indian youth."

Two members of Dartmouth's first graduating class, the Class of 1771, became missionaries to Native American tribes in Delaware and Canada, Deer said.

Deer also praised former College President John Kemeny for re-committing the school to the education of Native Americans during his administration, and praised the College for actively recruiting Native American students.

"It's heartening to see this at an Ivy League institution," she said.

Deer last visited Dartmouth during the 2008 Commencement ceremonies, when she received an honorary doctorate of law.