Baldwin, Marie L., 1863-1952

Variant names

Dates:

Birth 1863-12-14

Death 1952-05-17

Biographical notes:

Marie Louise Bottineau Baldwin (b. Dec. 14, 1863, Pembina, ND-d. May 17, 1952, Los Angeles, CA) was a member of the Metis/Turtle Mountain Chippewa. She clerked for her father, J.B. Bottineau, a layer and advocate for the Ojibwa/Chippewa Nation in Minnesota and North Dakota. The pair moved to Washington, DC in the 1880s to defend treaty rights of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Nation. In 1904 she was appointed by Pres. Theodore Roosevelt as a clerk to the Office of Indian Affairs (the Bureau of Indian Affairs as of 1947). She was involved Society of American Indians (SIA).

In 1912, at 49, Baldwin enrolled at Washington College of Law. She graduated in two years becoming the first woman of color and Native American to earn a law degree from the college. She remained politically and socially active as a spokesperson for modern Indian women. She testified in front of Congress, meet with women from across the country, and was a member of the contingent who met with President Woodrow Wilson in the Oval Office in 1914. Baldwin was active with the suffrage movement in Washington DC and marched in the 1913 Suffrage Parade. She continued to work for the Office of Indian affairs until her retirement in 1932 and then moved to Los Angeles in 1949.