Patricia Locke

Patricia Locke
Born	January 21, 1928 Fort Hall Indian Reservation
Died	October 20, 2001(2001-10-20) (aged 73)
Other names	Tawacin WasteWin
Alma mater	University of California, Los Angeles
Occupation	Educator

Patricia A. Locke (Tawacin WasteWin) (January 21, 1928 – October 20, 2001) was an American Indian educator.

Born on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation, Locke was a Standing Rock Sioux, Hunkpapa band also known as Lakota, and Mississippi Band of White Earth Chippewa. She was the daughter of John and Eva (Flying Earth) McGillis; they lived for a time in Parker, Arizona. Her father worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. She graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1951. She taught at University of California, Los Angeles, San Francisco State University, Alaska Methodist University, the University of Colorado, and the University of Southern Maine, to name a few.

She was appointed to the Interior Department Task Force on Indian Education Policy. She worked for the American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978. She also helped 17 tribes to establish Indian colleges.

She was married Charles E. Locke from 1952 to 1975; their son is Kevin Locke, and daughter is Winona Flying Earth. She lived on the Standing Rock Reservation and was a Bahá'í for the last 10 years of her life and was later elected to the Bahá'í National Spiritual Assembly of the United States. Locke died in Phoenix, Arizona. Her oral history is held at the Library of Congress. She was named posthumously to the National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls (village), New York.

During that 1993 Parliament of Religions she was among those who, as part of the Native delegation and speaking as a Bahá'í delegate along with then Continental Counsellor Jacqueline Left Hand Bull, attempted to have a resolution adopted by the Parliament named "American Indian Declaration of Vision 1993" which said in part:

One hundred years ago, during the 1893 Parliament of World Religions, the profoundly religious Original Peoples of the Western Hemisphere were not invited. We are still here and still struggling to be heard for the sake of our Mother Earth and our children. Our spiritual and physical survival continues to be threatened all over the hemisphere, we feel compelled to ask you to join us in restoring the balances of humanity and Mother Earth in these ways:

1. Acknowledgement of the myriad of messengers of the Creator, the Great Mystery, to the peoples of the Western Hemisphere.
2. Support in promoting, preserving and maintaining our Indigenous languages and cultures.

The resolution was initially adopted by a near-unanimous vote by the delegates yet was ultimately nullified by the Chair of the Council Parliament, who overruled the vote because of a conflict over the Inter caetera Bull and the basic roll of the Parliament to discuss rather than take action.

Awards

• 1991 MacArthur Fellows Program

See also

• Bahá'í Faith and Native Americans