Madonna Thunder Hawk
| Madonna Gilbert | |
|---|---|
| Native name | Madonna Thunder Hawk |
| Born |
Madonna Gilbert 1940 (age 76–77) Yankton Sioux Reservation |
| Nationality | American Indian |
| Occupation | Grassroots activist Water Rights activist |
| Years active | 1969–present |
| Organization |
American Indian Movement Pie Patrol Women of All Red Nations Black Hills Alliance Wounded Knee Legal Defense Offense Committee (WKLDOC) |
| Known for |
Occupation of Alcatraz Wounded Knee incident We Will Remember Survival School Lakota Law Project |
| Relatives | Russell Means (first cousin) |
| Website | Lakota Law People Project |
Madonna Thunder Hawk, born Madonna Gilbert, is the name of a Native American civil rights activist who is best known for her roles as a leader in the American Indian Movement (AIM), a co-founder of the American Indian organization Women of All Red Nations as well as the organizer and tribal liaison of the Lakota Law Project.
Born in 1940 as Madonna Gilbert, Thunder Hawk was born on the Yankton Sioux Reservation. She hailed from the Feather Necklace Tiospaye (extended family). Madonna was raised in a strict environment by her mother, who had been raised in the culturally restrictive environment within the boarding schools of the 1920s and 1930s. She is a part of the Oohenumpa band of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. During her lifetime, Gilbert graduated with her bachelor's degree in human services.
Madonna was an early proponent of the Red Power Movement. She took part in the 1969-1971 Occupation of Alcatraz, with the goal of persuading the federal government to end its policy of termination and adopt an official policy of Indian self-determination.
Madonna took part in the American Indian Movement occupation of the Wounded Knee. She was a member of the Pie Patrol, a group of women active in AIM, consisting of Madonna Gilbert, Thelma Rios, Theda Nelson Clarke, and Lorelei DeCora Means. Mary Crow Dog (née Moore), wife of civil rights activist Leonard Crow Dog, who was also present during the siege at Wounded Knee, referred to the Pie Patrol as "loud-mouth city women, media conscious and hugging the limelight," who loved the camera and took credit for what the women of AIM were doing behind the scenes. This group of women bore particular resentment against an individual by the name of Anna Mae Pictou Aquash. Anna Mae, a MikMaq woman from Nova Scotia, was having an affair with Dennis Banks, founder of the American Indian Movement while he was still involved in a common-law marriage with Darlene “Kamook” Nichols. The affair did not sit well with the women of different tribal affiliations within the movement, and these women (as well as the Pie Patrol) viewed the relationship as a threat to AIM’s stability.
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