Elgin Community College Highlights Indigenous Voices at Women’s History Month Panel

In celebration of Women’s History Month, Elgin Community College (ECC) partnered with The Great Listening to host a hybrid panel event, “The Power of Her Voice: Native Matriarchs Leading Change,” on March 11.

The event took place from 11 am to 1 pm at ECC’s 1700 Spartan Drive campus in Building B’s Jobe Lounge. Featured speakers included three Native Shoshone leaders: Randy’L Teton (Shoshone-Bannock), Tanaya Winder (Duckwater Shoshone), and Tricia Renée Weasaw (Eastern Shoshone). 

The Great Listening describes itself as “a growing community movement dedicated to creating cultural and educational spaces for Elginites to hear the voices of local Indigenous peoples, Earth guardians, and Earth herself.” 

Randy’L Teton (Shoshone-Bannock)

Teton, an author and model for the U.S. Sacagawea coin, joined the panel via Zoom. She is the author of “It’s Her Story: Sacajawea,” and, according to the U.S. Mint,  is the “youngest and only living model” on U.S currency. 

She shared stories of her upbringing in Fort Hall, Idaho, describing her grandmother Juanita’s birth during her family’s forced relocation from Ruby Valley, Nevada, and her own early experiences working in her mother’s museum. Juanita was named after the woman who helped her mother deliver in a sagebrush patch. 

Teton was raised in a museum, where her mother was the director. She joked that she was her mother’s “janitor” at a young age, and eventually worked in the museum gift shop. 

“That's where a seed was planted for me of the love and passion for history,” she said. 

Tanaya Winder (Duckwater Shoshone)

Winder, a poet, storyteller, and enrolled member of the Duckwater Shoshone Tribe,  has four published books, including “Words Like Love,” “I Tell You That I Love You,” “Words to Love By,” and “Why Storms are Named After People and Bullets Remain Nameless.” Winder also joined the virtual conversation. 

During the Q&A portion of the event, Winder was asked about how her heritage influences her creative work.

“I feel like everything about my culture informs who I am; my writing was from my spirit, Winder said. “Sometimes I just think about ceremonies that I have participated in, and how those kinds of parallels inform the writing, in terms of the trouble, the hard parts, and just that sense of community, and what can happen when we all unite our voices in song or prayer together, just the strength that comes from that.”

Tricia Renée Weasaw (Eastern Shoshone)

Weasaw, the author of “The Courage to Exist in Daylight “and an Indigenous rights advocate, discussed her journey from Fort Washakie, Wyoming, to Chicago and the cultural transition she faced. She originally grew up in what her family called “the old house” around mountains, ponds, and sagebrush, which she considered an extension of her home. When Weasaw moved to Chicago, she had difficulty adjusting to the new lifestyle. 

“My grandpa Tom was quoted as saying, ‘Many of our people can’t cope with two societies,’ Weasaw said. “‘We can’t balance ourselves.’ That really is the crux of everything that led me here.” 

Despite those challenges, Weasaw said she eventually found community with other Indigenous people in Chicago and connected more deeply with her Polish heritage while writing her first book during college.