Helen Peterson, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Helen Peterson

American Native American rights administrator

Date of Birth: 03-Aug-1915

Place of Birth: Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota, United States

Date of Death: 10-Jul-2000

Profession: public administration, lobbyist

Nationality: United States

Zodiac Sign: Leo

Helen Peterson (native name: Wa-Cinn-Ya-Win-Pi-Mi, August 3, 1915 – July 10, 2000) was a Cheyenne-Lakota activist and lobbyist.
She was the first director of the Denver Commission on Human Relations.
She was the second Native American woman to become director of the National Congress of American Indians at a time when the government wanted to discharge their treaty obligations to the tribes by eliminating their tribal governments through the Indian termination policy and forcing the tribe members to assimilate into the mainstream culture.
She authored a resolution on Native American education, which was ratified at the second Inter-American Indian Conference, held in Cuzco, Peru.
She created a model program for summer school programs on ethnic studies, which was used throughout the United States.
In 1986, Peterson was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame and the following year, her papers were donated to the Smithsonian's National Anthropological Archives.