Doris Leader Charge
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Doris Leader Charge (May 4, 1930 – February 20, 2001), was an American translator and educator. She taught
Lakota Lakota may refer to: *Lakota people, a confederation of seven related Native American tribes *Lakota language Lakota ( ), also referred to as Lakhota, Teton or Teton Sioux, is a Siouan languages, Siouan language spoken by the Lakota people of ...
language and culture courses at
Sinte Gleska University Sinte Gleska University (SGU) is a public tribal land-grant university in Mission, South Dakota, on the Rosebud Indian Reservation. It is a Brulé Lakota Indian Reservation home to the Sicangu (Burnt Thigh). SGU has an enrollment of 828 full ...
for 28 years, and worked on the film '' Dances With Wolves'' (1990) as a translator and dialogue coach; she also appeared on-screen in a minor part.


Early life and education

Doris Leader Charge was born on the
Rosebud Indian Reservation The Rosebud Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation in South Dakota, United States. It is the home of the federally recognized Rosebud Sioux Tribe, who are Sicangu, a band of Lakota people. The Lakota name ''Sicangu Oyate'' translates as th ...
in South Dakota. She was raised by her grandmother. She attended He Dog Elementary School, St. Francis Indian School and St. Mary's School for Girls until she left school at age 14. At age 54, she earned a degree in education at
Sinte Gleska University Sinte Gleska University (SGU) is a public tribal land-grant university in Mission, South Dakota, on the Rosebud Indian Reservation. It is a Brulé Lakota Indian Reservation home to the Sicangu (Burnt Thigh). SGU has an enrollment of 828 full ...
.


Career

Doris Millard worked as a nurse's aide, a waitress, and a cook to support her family as a young woman and as a widow. Her son Gerald "Coco" Millard appeared in '' The Last Hunt'' (1956), when he was a toddler, and she traveled with him and her newborn daughter to Sioux Falls for the premiere. Later, Leader Charge taught
Lakota Lakota may refer to: *Lakota people, a confederation of seven related Native American tribes *Lakota language Lakota ( ), also referred to as Lakhota, Teton or Teton Sioux, is a Siouan languages, Siouan language spoken by the Lakota people of ...
Sioux language and culture courses at Sinte Gleska University. She took a sabbatical from her college job to appear onscreen as "Pretty Shield" in '' Dances with Wolves'' (1990), and to serve as a translator and dialogue coach in the making of the film, working with actors to learn to speak their Lakota lines with accents appropriate to their characters' stories. "I thought they were pulling my leg," she said later, about being hired for the film. "Yeah sure, production companies come to South Dakota all the time looking for someone to translate Lakota." When the film won a 1991 Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, she stood beside the screenwriter on stage and translated his acceptance speech into Lakota. Leader Charge was also credited as language coordinator on the television miniseries '' Son of the Morning Star'' (1991). In 1992, she made a national speaking tour, addressing audiences about her experiences with bringing better representation to the popular screen.


Personal life

In 1947, she married her first husband, Wallace Millard. They had three children and she was pregnant with their fourth when Millard died in a car accident in 1956. Her second husband was Air Force veteran Fred Leader Charge; they had two more children together. She died in 2001, at the age of 70. Her grave was moved to
Black Hills National Cemetery Black Hills National Cemetery, originally named Fort Meade National Cemetery, is a United States National Cemetery near Sturgis, South Dakota. Named after the nearby Black Hills, over 29,000 interments of military veterans and their family memb ...
.


References


External links

*
Doris Leader Charge and Michael Blake
speaking on stage at the 1991 Academy Awards ceremony
A 1990 photograph of Leader Charge with her dogs
at
Getty Images Getty Images Holdings, Inc. (stylized as gettyimages) is a visual media company and supplier of stock images, editorial photography, video, and music for business and consumers, with a library of over 477 million assets. It targets three mark ...

"Doris Leader Charge, Culture Changer"
''The Glinda Factor''; a blog post about Doris Leader Charge {{DEFAULTSORT:Leader Charge, Doris 1930 births 2001 deaths Lakota women Sinte Gleska University faculty 20th-century American translators People from Rosebud Indian Reservation, South Dakota 20th-century Native American women 20th-century American women educators 20th-century American educators Native American educators