Patricia Locke

Tribal Rights Leader and Educator Class of 1991
location icon Location
Choctaw, Oklahoma
age iconAge
63 at time of award
age iconDate Deceased
October 20, 2001
area of focus iconArea of Focus

About Patricia's Work

Patricia Locke was an advocate for tribal rights and a leader in the promotion of American Indian self-determination and education.

Locke advanced educational opportunities for the American Indian Nations and for minorities in the United States, both through advocacy and in the development of innovative educational policies.  She had tribal affiliations with the Standing Rock Sioux-Hunkpapa Lakota and the White Earth Chippewa-Mississippi Band and worked directly with seventeen tribes, supporting their efforts to establish colleges on their reservations.  In her writings, Locke elucidates American Indian values and belief systems, education, native languages, and culture.  A defender of indigenous rights, she promoted the preservation of native cultures and languages in the Western Hemisphere.

Biography

Co-chair of the International Native Languages Issues Institute, Locke was director of Planning Resources in Minority Education for the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education and education project director for the National Congress of American Indians and the National Tribal Chairmen’s Association.  She lectured at the University of California, Los Angeles, the University of Colorado, and the University of Southern Maine.  Locke served as chair of the Indigenous Women’s Caucus at the 1995 United Nations Women’s Conference in Beijing.

Locke received a B.A. (1951) from the University of California, Los Angeles. 

Last updated January 1, 2005

Published on July 1, 1991

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