LaDonna Harris: Indian 101

Short Synopsis

“LaDonna Harris: Indian 101” is a documentary film about Comanche activist Ladonna Harris who led an extensive life of Native American political and social activism and is now passing on her traditional cultural and leadership values to a new generation of emerging Indigenous leaders.

Description/Treatment

In this feature-length documentary film, we explorethe legacy of activist LaDonna Harris - a woman known throughout Indian Countryas perhaps the most revered woman in American Indian history. She is complexand unique, but above all she is working hard in her twilight years to keep herdecades of hard work alive.



Born to a Comanche mother and Irish father, LaDonnaHarris was raised in Walters, Oklahoma during the Great Depression – a time ofradical change in Indian Country. The introduction of land allotments, boardingschools, and the urban relocation program was successfully forcing the Indianto assimilate into white society – regardless of consequences. The completedestruction of a culture was in full force. The language was dying, customswere fading, and as Indians began to integrate into white society, the Indianway of life had been relegated to museums. To be an Indian in Oklahoma was thelowest form of humanity and for this reason, Indians were being forced to denytheir Indian-ness and try to fit into the dominant culture.



It is in this social landscape that LaDonna Harris, ashy, quiet, farm girl grew up watching and listening to people, both Indian andnon-Indian – quietly studying their body-language, interests, and demeanors.Coupled with the strong Comanche values she was raised with, Harris’ lifetimeas an observer made her an expert in human nature and cultural diversity. Itwas this unique gift that eventually led her to become one of the foremostactivists for indigenous people’s rights.

When Harris met and married a young,white, up-and-coming politician, Fred Harris, she quickly realized she wouldnot be like the other politician’s wife who would quietly sit on the sidelines.After being rejected for membership by the Junior League of Oklahoma because ofher Comanche ethnicity, Harris founded the national organization Americans forIndian Opportunity (AIO), and began her first major foray into American Indianactivism.

She and Fred – sometimes called “Freddie and the Indian” - worked asa team, fighting for civil rights for blacks in Oklahoma and for the rights ofLaDonna’s own people. Often times when Fred was asked to attend a conference orrally to speak, he would send LaDonna in his place. She was as much a part ofpolitics in Oklahoma as he was working as a state senator.



After being elected to the US Senate in themid-1960s, Fred and LaDonna moved to Washington DC. Shortly after theirarrival, LaDonna attended a Senate Ladies Club where her charm andapproachability attracted famous Senate wife Ethel Kennedy. Immediately afterthey were introduced, Kennedy is said to have quipped to Harris “Kid, stay withme…this is a tough town.” This introduction to the Washington elite wasfollowed by a warm welcome from then President Lyndon Johnson, who quickly putHarris to work teaching “Indian 101,” a program that educated Americanpresidents and members of Congress on Indian history and issues. The assignmentspanned more than 30 years and Harris was appointed to commissions and advisorycouncils by every president to date except for George W. Bush.



Fortunately for Harris, her desire to initiate changecoincided with the shifting socio-political climate of the 1960s, just as ageneral consciousness was first being raised about the struggles of Nativepeople. With events such as the Alcatraz Occupation and the 1973 Siege ofWounded Knee came a widespread curiosity about Native cultures and rights – fora time, it had become chic to be an Indian.

Harris smartly relied upon herintriguing heritage, progressive sensibility, and handsome, liberal husband tohelp work her angle and reap the great rewards of social change. During thelate 60s and early 70s, she made appearances on the Dinah Shore Show, the DickCavett Show, and the Tonight Show, always voicing the issues she was passionateabout and that she soon came to represent – human rights, Native rights, therights of women, and the mentally retarded – any underserved community she feltshe could adequately represent. 


Harris had become a significant figure not only inpolitics but in popular culture as well. Some of her closest allies includedactor Marlon Brando, Ethel and Senator Robert Kennedy, Senator Edward Kennedy,women’s rights activist Gloria Steinem, and actress Jane Fonda. In 1980 withstrong support from both Washington and politically active celebrities, Harrismade a run for Vice-President on the Environmentalist Citizens Party ticketwith Barry Commoner. Although unsuccessful, it became apparent that Harris wasa force to be reckoned with in the public and political arena.



Harris’ fight has spanned generations and continuestoday. In 1993, Americans for Indian Opportunity created the American IndianAmbassadors Program to foster leadership growth within the native community.The training and mentorship program mimics Harris’ own rise through thepolitical landscape by bringing young professional indigenous people toWashington DC and abroad to become ambassadors for their nations. It provides acreative combination of mentoring, personal reflection, dialogue with national decision-makers,community involvement, communications training, and the teaching of tribalvalues.



“It’s about finding your own medicine,” says formerAmbassador Bird Runningwater. “We each have our own inner strengths and LaDonnawants to have ambassadors learn what those strengths are and use them tointer-relate to our cultural identity and to connect with other communities.”



This unique approach encourages these emergingleaders to interweave their traditional cultural values with their contemporaryrealities. The program is based on four core cultural Native Americanvalues:

Relationships (“we are related to all things”), 
Responsibility (“weare responsible for our relatives”),
Reciprocity (“relationships andresponsibility are circular in nature and all things are connected”),and
Redistribution (“we have a responsibility to share resources andinformation for the good of the whole”). Based on the values she learned as ayoung Comanche girl, Harris found that these are the fundamental values ofalmost all indigenous peoples.



Filmed entirely in HDV, the film will include thecinema verité stories of the American Indian Ambassadors – the next generationof Indians who stand at the ready to carry on Harris’ legacy. Two Ambassadorshave been selected and will be followed throughout the year as he/sheprogresses through the program to see how it reshapes their goals.

The filmseeks not only to cover Harris’ accomplishments, which include the historicalAmerican Indian Religious Freedom Act passed in 1976 of which she was largelyresponsible for, but to also shed light on the obstacles she has faced withinher own community for being a celebrity with world renowned success. Likeothers who work for the “Great White Father,” Harris has often been ridiculedfor being a sell-out or “paper Indian.” The film will probe the fine lineHarris has had to walk in order to stay committed to her disenfranchised peoplewhile simultaneously assimilating into the highest tier of privilegedgovernment politicos. 
 Paralleling the stories of the Ambassadors, the filmseeks to reconstruct LaDonna’s life by weaving interviews with Harris, hercolleagues and her family, with rare archival footage and photographs. The filmwill be drawn into 3 acts – the introduction of LaDonna and how her lifechallenges have led her to create the Ambassadors Program, followed by theintroduction of the 2008 class of Ambassadors and their journey through theprogram, and culminating in the Ambassador’s ultimate understanding of LaDonna’stheory for success.

We will discover those journeys as they progressthrough the program and in the end, we’ll see the impact it has had on theirlives and their work. Will it be a journey of self-exploration? Or will theydevelop a new approach to their work? How will this exercise impact them?LaDonna talks with the Ambassadors about the “culture of oppression” –something that she had to overcome in the early years of her life and somethingthat is still prevalent in the current group of Ambassadors. In the end, it islikely that they will have a new way at looking at themselves that is positiveand pro-active, something that many former Ambassadors can attest to.