Sacagawea was born in what is now Idaho, kidnapped by another tribe when she was about 12, and sold to a French-Canadian fur trapper, who made her one of his wives in present-day North Dakota. With a three-month-old baby she journeyed with Lewis & Clark’s expedition through the 828,000 square miles of almost completely unexplored territory, searching for the Northwest Passage to the Pacific. 

Serving as a “peace symbol” for the Corps (a woman traveling with a baby was much less suspicious to tribes they passed), she was briefly reunited with her brother Cameahwait, with whom she bartered for horses on which the Corps crossed the Rocky Mountains (surviving illness, flash floods, temperature extremes, food shortages, mosquito swarms and giant grizzlies). Charbonneau received 320 acres of lands and $500 for his help.  Sacagawea received nothing and died at 25, December 22, 1812, in Fort Manuel on a bluff 70 miles south of present-day Bismarck, South Dakota.

 Note: “Indian Country has some of the highest rates of domestic abuse in America.  And one of the reasons is that when Native American women are abused on tribal lands by an attacker who is not Native American, the attacker is immune from prosecution by tribal courts.  Well, as soon as I sign this bill that ends. That ends.  That ends.  Tribal governments have an inherent right to protect their people, and all women deserve the right to live free from fear.  And that is what today is all about.   President George H. Bush, Upon signing the Violence Against Women Act in 1983.

“In 1994, the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was first passed and administered through the Department of Justice and HHS. The VAWA authorized the opening of the 24-hour, toll-free National Domestic Violence Hotline (link is external) and funding for women’s shelters, through ACF. The hotline provides nationwide crisis assistance and local shelter referrals to victims of domestic violence.” According to the National Coalition against Domestic Violence (NCDAV), 1 in 3 women will experience intimate partner violence within their lifetime.