Tester to honor contributions of Native American women

Senator launches #NativeHERoes campaign to recognize changemakers from Indian Country

(U.S. Senate)-Senator Jon Tester, Vice-Chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, will celebrate National Women’s History Month by honoring Native American women changemakers who have made significant contributions to Indian Country and the entire nation.

“Native American women have helped shaped this nation and their contributions to society are a rich part of our history and heritage,” Tester said. “Let’s all take a moment to honor the hard work of these trailblazers as we preserve their inspirational stories for the next generation of American leaders.”

Tester today will launch the hashtag #NativeHERoes and individually recognize Native American women leaders. The Senator will kick off his social media campaign by honoring Elouise Cobell, a proud member of the Blackfeet Tribe whose strength led to the compensation of $3.4 billion to hundreds of thousands of Native Americans for the federal mismanagement of Indian trust land.

You can follow Tester’s #NativeHERoes campaign on his Facebook and Twitter pages.

Tester will culminate Women’s History Month by introducing legislation to strengthen domestic violence protections for Native American women and children and ensure future generations will be able to continue the tradition of raising great Native American women changemakers.

In 2014, Tester successfully added an amendment to the Violence Against Women Act that expanded protections for Native American women.