THERESA TWO BULLS on Uniting to Reclaim the Black Hills /50
A herd of bison graze in the Southern Black Hills, SD, USA; photo by Brian Miller
Theresa Two Bulls is an attorney, prosecutor and politician in the United States and the Oglala Sioux Tribe. In 2004 she was elected to the South Dakota Senate, the first Indigenous woman to be elected to the state legislature.
In 2008, Two Bulls was elected as President of the Oglala Sioux Tribe of the Pine Ridge Reservation, the second woman to serve in this position. In elective office, Two Bulls has particularly worked to develop stronger relationships between tribal, local and state governments. She also served on a United States Department of Justice task force to develop guidelines for and implementation of a study to reduce violence against Indigenous women. When the rate of suicide rose among youth on the reservation in late 2009, Two Bulls declared a state of emergency to address the problem.
Theresa Two Bulls
As of 2015 she is secretary-treasurer of the National Congress of American Indians. She is a lead organizer of The Unity Concert, a gathering of members of the Pte Oyate (Buffalo Nation, also called the Great Sioux Nation), artists, performers and concerned global citizens committed to educating and raising support for the Black Hills Initiative. Its organizers and participants believe that the only way for the United States of America to be truly great is to honor its word, and honor the treaties including restoring the guardianship of the Black Hills to the Great Sioux Nation.
The Black Hills Unity Concert, FREE, September 8-10, 2017
*All donations to For the Wild through September 10th will go to the Unity Concert
♫ Music includes "Lakota Memorial Song" by Johnson Holy Rock, "No More" by Bethany & Rufus, "Petroglyphs" by Good Shield Aguilar and "In The River" by Raye Zaragoza.
For The Wild is a slow media organization dedicated to land-based protection, co-liberation, and intersectional storytelling. We are rooted in a paradigm shift away from human supremacy, endless growth, and consumerism. As we dream towards a world of grounded justice and reciprocity, our work highlights impactful stories and deeply-felt meaning making as balms for these times.