Marie Elena Brady Sanchez (born Juanita Marie Brady, Cheyenne: Otseohtse’e; April 30, 1939 - August 9, 2019), was an American Cheyenne, Chief Judge of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, a human rights activist for indigenous people and a linguist.^[1]

Early life

Marie Sanchez was born as Juanita Marie Brady on April 30, 1939, in Lame Deer, Montana.^[1] Her Cheyenne name is Otseohtse’e. Her father was James Brady and her mother was Mary Alice Woodenthigh.^[1] She was a direct descendent of Chief Little Wolf from her mother's side.^[1] Her great-grandfather Hugh Woodenthigh was the son of Chief Little Wolf of the Northern Cheyenne.^[1] On September 13, 1942, she was baptized at St. Labre Parish as Marie Elena Brady. She married Charles T. Sanchez Sr.^[1]

Career

Throughout her life she was an advocate for indigenous people's rights and the Cheyenne language.^[1] She was a Chief Judge of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe in Montana and a teacher at Montana State University and at Chief Dull Knife College.^[1] She was also a linguist and a contributor to the Cheyenne Dictionary by Wayne Leman.^[1][2]

As a human rights defender she was an active member of the International Indian Treaty Council, NOW and the Elk Horn Scrapers.^[1][3] She was a board member of the National Board of Research on the Plutonium Economy, the Native American Student Council (NASC) and the Native American Solidarity Committee.^[3] In the 1970s, she protested against some sterilization procedures for tribal members in the 1970s that were performed in reservation hospitals and off-reservation hospitals contracted by the federal government.^[4]

In 1974, she was a co-founder of Women of All Red Nations (WARN) and soon thereafter a member of the advisory board of the National Women's Health Network.^[4]

On December 8, 1976, she appeared on the PBS Newshour show The MacNeil/Lehrer Report with Robert MacNeil and Jim Lehrer.^[5][6] They discussed involuntary sterilization on the reservation and in Lame Deer, Montana.^[5][6] The reservation only had 2400 people in 1976.^[5]

On April, 15, 1977 she appeared on the television show called Woman of WNED-TV and discussed in-depth the concerns of American Indian women.^[3]

In 1977 she gained fame as a speaker at the Conference on Indians in the Americas of the United Nations in Geneva.^[1] She discussed the preservation of native American culture and languages, sovereignty and the rights of Indigenous women.^[1][4] During the conference she mentioned the Family Planning Services and Population Research Act of 1970 which was enacted by the Nixon administration.^[4] In a span of 6 years it resulted in circa 25% involuntary sterilization of Native American women and called it modern genocide.^[4] She argued that it was one of many injustices committed against indigenous people through American history.^[4] Such as the forced displacement and relocation of native Americans to reservations caused health disasters in the 19th century.^[4] By the late 1970s their activism enabled some improvement of federal regulations to reduce unwanted sterilization procedures.^[4]

Death

She died at 80 years old on August 9, 2019, and is survived by her 8 children.^[1]

References