Last Standing Woman

Hopeful, irreverent, and deeply moving, Winona LaDuke’s Last Standing Woman chronicles the stories and struggles of an Anishinaabe community across seven generations. Born at the turn of the 21st century, The Storyteller, Ishkwegaabawiikwe (Last Standing Woman), carries her people's past within her memories. The White Earth Anishinaabe people have lived on the same land since time immemorial. Among the towering white pines and rolling hills, each generation is born, lives out their lives, and is buried. The arrival of European missionaries changes the community forever. Piece by piece, government policies rob the people of their land. Missionaries and Indian agents work to outlaw ceremonies the Anishinaabeg have practiced for centuries. Grave-robbing anthropologists dig up ancestors and whisk them away to museums as artifacts. Logging operations destroy traditional sources of food, pushing the White Earth people to the brink of starvation.