Ada Elizabeth Deer

Ada Deer, a member of the Menominee tribe in Wisconsin who was a leading figure in the movement for greater Native American sovereignty since the 1960s, a role she played both as a critic of the federal government and as a top official within it, died on Tuesday August 15, 2023 in Fitchburg, Wis., a suburb of Madison. She was 88. Ada E. Deer is the Chairperson of the Menominee Restoration Committee. In addition to this role, the Menominee Tribe elected her as the Chairperson of Menominee Common Stock and Voting Trust (1971-1973) and Vice President and Washington Lobbyist, National Committee to Save the Menominee People and Forest, Inc. (1972-1973). Prior to her election by the Menominee Tribe, Ms. Deer served as the Acting Director of PRIDE: Program for Recognizing Individual Determination through Education at Wisconsin State University. She also served as the Community Services Coordinator at the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Coordinator of Indian Affairs at the Training Center for Community Programs at the University of Minnesota. Ms. Deer is a on the National Board of Americans for Indian Opportunity, American Indian Scholarships, Inc., Common Cause and is one of five Native Americans on the 11-member American Indian Policy Review Commission. Deer ran for office several times, though never successfully. She ran twice for Wisconsin secretary of state and once for Congress, in 1992, losing a high-profile race against a Republican incumbent, Scott Klug, that nevertheless brought her yet another distinction: as the first Native American woman to win a Democratic primary for federal office. President Clinton named her assistant secretary of the interior for Indian affairs in 1993, putting her in charge of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. She found herself facing an insurmountable challenge: The administration expected her to be a team player, while Native Americans expected her to be their advocate. By the end of her tenure, in 1996, she had made enemies on both sides. Ada Elizabeth Deer was born on Aug. 7, 1935, in Keshena, a town on the Menominee Reservation in northern Wisconsin. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a bachelor’s degree in social work in 1957 and received her master’s degree in the same subject from Columbia University in 1961. She is survived by her sisters, Connie Deer and Ferial Deer Skye.