Elouise P. Cobell
Encyclopedia
Elouise Pepion Cobell, Yellow Bird Woman (November 5, 1945 – October 16, 2011) was a Niitsítapi (Blackfoot Confederacy) elder and activist, banker, rancher, a Native American
leader, and lead plaintiff in the groundbreaking litigation Cobell v. Salazar, which challenged the United States' mismanagement of trust funds belonging to more than 500,000 individual Native Americans. In 2010 the government approved a $3.4 billion settlement for the trust case, including a portion for settlement of four Indian water-rights cases. The major portion of the settlement is to be used to buy back lands and restore them to the Native American tribes.
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She was the Executive Director of the Native American Community Development Corporation, a non-profit affiliate of Native American Bank. She also served as Chairperson for the Blackfeet National Bank, the first national bank located on an Indian reservation and owned by a Native American tribe. Her professional, civic experience and expertise includes serving as Co-Chair of Native American Bank, NA.; a Board Member for First Interstate Bank; a Trustee of the National Museum of the American Indian
; as well as a member of other boards. She served for thirteen years as the Treasurer for the Blackfeet Indian Nation in Montana.
In addition to operating a working ranch with her husband, which produces cattle and crops, Cobell was active in local agriculture and environmental issues. She founded the first Land Trust
in Indian Country and serves as a Trustee for the Nature Conservancy of Montana.
As Treasurer of the Blackfeet Tribe of Montana
, she established the Blackfeet National Bank, the first national bank to be located on an Indian reservation and to be owned by a Native American tribe. She served on the Board of the Native American Bank and First Interstate Bank.
While Treasurer of the Blackfeet Tribe, Ms. Cobell discovered many irregularities in the management of funds held in trust by the United States
for the tribe and for individual Indians. Along with the Intertribal Monitoring Association (which she served as President), she attempted to seek reform in Washington, DC from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s without success. At that point she asked Dennis Gingold (renowned banking lawyer), Thaddeus Holt and the Native American Rights Fund
(including John Echohawk and Keith Harper) to bring a suit forcing reform and an accounting of the trust funds belonging to individual Indians.
The case is known as Cobell v. Salazar, and in 2010 the Obama administration offered a settlement of $3.4 billion of the longstanding class action suit. As of July 2011, notices are going out to the hundreds of thousands of individual Native Americans affected. Most will receive settlements of about $1800, but some may receive more.
In 2009 when settlement was reached, Cobell said:
Cobell died October 16, 2011, in Great Falls, Montana
after a brief battle with cancer.
According to the Washington Post, during her funeral, to honor the former president of Montana’s Elvis Presley
fan club, whose activities she had to quit in order to focus on her landmark lawsuit, all car radios were tuned to Elvis songs in her honor. At the viewing in the Browning High School gym, a pair of life-size Elvis cutouts stood against the rear wall and a photo of Cobell and her family at Graceland
flashed occasionally in the rotating display on a big screen overhead. The buffet in the lobby featured a giant cake from Teeples IGA, decorated with the words “In Loving Memory of Elouise Cobell” — and a picture of Elvis. And in her casket, along with her blue-and-white rosary, a braid of sweetgrass and a pair of tiny moccasins, was an Elvis doll in its box.
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
leader, and lead plaintiff in the groundbreaking litigation Cobell v. Salazar, which challenged the United States' mismanagement of trust funds belonging to more than 500,000 individual Native Americans. In 2010 the government approved a $3.4 billion settlement for the trust case, including a portion for settlement of four Indian water-rights cases. The major portion of the settlement is to be used to buy back lands and restore them to the Native American tribes.
Biography
Elouise Cobell was a member of the Blackfeet Indian Tribe of Montana and a great-granddaughter of [Mountain Chief]], one of the legendary Blackfeet leaders of the West. Elouise Cobell was a graduate of Great Falls Business College and attended Montana State UniversityMontana State University - Bozeman
Montana State University – Bozeman is a public university located in Bozeman, Montana. It is the state's land-grant university and primary campus in the Montana State University System, which is part of the Montana University System...
.
She was the Executive Director of the Native American Community Development Corporation, a non-profit affiliate of Native American Bank. She also served as Chairperson for the Blackfeet National Bank, the first national bank located on an Indian reservation and owned by a Native American tribe. Her professional, civic experience and expertise includes serving as Co-Chair of Native American Bank, NA.; a Board Member for First Interstate Bank; a Trustee of the National Museum of the American Indian
National Museum of the American Indian
The National Museum of the American Indian is a museum operated under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution that is dedicated to the life, languages, literature, history, and arts of the native Americans of the Western Hemisphere...
; as well as a member of other boards. She served for thirteen years as the Treasurer for the Blackfeet Indian Nation in Montana.
In addition to operating a working ranch with her husband, which produces cattle and crops, Cobell was active in local agriculture and environmental issues. She founded the first Land Trust
Land trust
There are two distinct definitions of a land trust:* a private, nonprofit organization that, as all or part of its mission, actively works to conserve land by undertaking or assisting in land or conservation easement acquisition, or by its stewardship of such land or easements; or* an agreement...
in Indian Country and serves as a Trustee for the Nature Conservancy of Montana.
As Treasurer of the Blackfeet Tribe of Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
, she established the Blackfeet National Bank, the first national bank to be located on an Indian reservation and to be owned by a Native American tribe. She served on the Board of the Native American Bank and First Interstate Bank.
While Treasurer of the Blackfeet Tribe, Ms. Cobell discovered many irregularities in the management of funds held in trust by the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
for the tribe and for individual Indians. Along with the Intertribal Monitoring Association (which she served as President), she attempted to seek reform in Washington, DC from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s without success. At that point she asked Dennis Gingold (renowned banking lawyer), Thaddeus Holt and the Native American Rights Fund
Native American Rights Fund
The Native American Rights Fund, also known as NARF, is a non-profit organization that uses existing laws and treaties to ensure that state governments and the national government live up to their legal obligations...
(including John Echohawk and Keith Harper) to bring a suit forcing reform and an accounting of the trust funds belonging to individual Indians.
The case is known as Cobell v. Salazar, and in 2010 the Obama administration offered a settlement of $3.4 billion of the longstanding class action suit. As of July 2011, notices are going out to the hundreds of thousands of individual Native Americans affected. Most will receive settlements of about $1800, but some may receive more.
In 2009 when settlement was reached, Cobell said:
"Although we have reached a settlement totaling more than $3.4 billion, there is little doubt this is significantly less than the full accounting to which individual Indians are entitled. Yes, we could prolong our struggle and fight longer, and perhaps one day we would know, down to the penny, how much individual Indians are owed. Perhaps we could even litigate long enough to increase the settlement amount. But we are compelled to settle now by the sobering realization that our class grows smaller each year, each month and every day, as our elders die and are forever prevented from receiving their just compensation."
Cobell died October 16, 2011, in Great Falls, Montana
Great Falls, Montana
Great Falls is a city in and the county seat of Cascade County, Montana, United States. The population was 58,505 at the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Great Falls, Montana Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Cascade County...
after a brief battle with cancer.
According to the Washington Post, during her funeral, to honor the former president of Montana’s Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
fan club, whose activities she had to quit in order to focus on her landmark lawsuit, all car radios were tuned to Elvis songs in her honor. At the viewing in the Browning High School gym, a pair of life-size Elvis cutouts stood against the rear wall and a photo of Cobell and her family at Graceland
Graceland
Graceland is a large white-columned mansion and estate that was home to Elvis Presley in Memphis, Tennessee. It is located at 3764 Elvis Presley Boulevard in the vast Whitehaven community about 9 miles from Downtown and less than four miles north of the Mississippi border. It currently serves as...
flashed occasionally in the rotating display on a big screen overhead. The buffet in the lobby featured a giant cake from Teeples IGA, decorated with the words “In Loving Memory of Elouise Cobell” — and a picture of Elvis. And in her casket, along with her blue-and-white rosary, a braid of sweetgrass and a pair of tiny moccasins, was an Elvis doll in its box.
Legacy and honors
- 1997: "Genius Grant"MacArthur Fellows ProgramThe MacArthur Fellows Program or MacArthur Fellowship is an award given by the John D. and Catherine T...
from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation's Fellowship Program. - Awarded an honorary doctorate from Montana State University
- 2002: received the International Women's Forum award for "Women Who Make a Difference," in Mexico City.
- 2004: Jay SilverheelsJay SilverheelsJay Silverheels was a Canadian Mohawk First Nations actor. He was well known for his role as Tonto, the faithful American Indian companion of the Lone Ranger in a long-running American television series. -Early life:...
Achievement Award from the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development. - 2005: received a "Cultural Freedom Fellowship" from the Lannan Foundation, an award that cited her persistence in bringing to light the government's "more than a century of government malfeasance and dishonesty" with the Indian Trust.
- 2007: one of ten people to receive American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) Impact Award (for making the world a better place)
- 2011: awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from Dartmouth CollegeDartmouth CollegeDartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
as part of the college's 2011 Commencement ceremonies. - 2011: awarded the Montana Trial Lawyers Association's Citizens Award
- 2011: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, is co-sponsoring legislation to award the Congressional Gold Medal to Elouise Cobell (neè Pepion).