Elouise P. Cobell facts for kids

Elouise Pepion Cobell, also known as Yellow Bird Woman (November 5, 1945 – October 16, 2011), was a respected elder and activist from the Blackfoot Confederacy. She was a banker and rancher, but she is best known for leading a huge lawsuit called Cobell v. Salazar. This lawsuit challenged how the United States government handled money that belonged to over 500,000 Native Americans. She started this important case in 1996 and worked hard to make the government explain how it managed these funds.

In 2010, the government agreed to a $3.4 billion settlement for the case. This money was meant to pay back individual Native Americans and to buy back land that had been divided up, returning it to tribal control. A part of the settlement also created a $60 million scholarship fund for Native American and Alaskan Native students, named the Cobell Education Scholarship Fund in her honor. This settlement was the largest of its kind against the federal government.

Elouise Cobell's efforts were recognized in November 2016 when she was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom after her death. Her son, Turk Cobell, accepted the award from President Barack Obama.

Biography

Early Life and Education

Elouise Pépion was born in 1945 on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana. She was one of nine children born to Polite and Catherine Pépion. Her great-grandfather was Mountain Chief, a famous leader of the Blackfeet Nation. Elouise grew up on her family's cattle ranch on the reservation. Her family, like many others on the reservation, did not have electricity or running water.

She went to a one-room schoolhouse for her early education. Later, she graduated from Great Falls Business College. She also attended Montana State University. However, she had to leave college early to take care of her mother, who was very sick with cancer.

Family and Return to the Reservation

After her mother passed away, Elouise moved to Seattle. There, she met and married Alvin Cobell, who was also a Blackfeet person living in Washington. They had one son named Turk Cobell. Later, Elouise and Alvin returned to the Blackfeet Reservation. Elouise helped her father with the family ranch. She also became the treasurer for the Blackfeet Nation.

Banking and Activism

Elouise Cobell made history by starting the Blackfeet National Bank. This was the first national bank located on an Indian reservation and owned by a Native American tribe. In 1997, she received a special award called a MacArthur "genius award". This award recognized her work with the bank and her efforts to help Native Americans understand money matters. She used some of the money from this award to support her lawsuit against the government.

After twenty other tribes joined the bank, it became the Native American Bank. Cobell then became the Executive Director of the Native American Community Development Corporation. This was a non-profit group connected to the bank. The Native American Bank is located in Denver, Colorado.

Elouise Cobell was also involved in many other important groups. She was a Co-Chair of Native American Bank, N.A., and a Board Member for First Interstate Bank. She also served as a Trustee of the National Museum of the American Indian.

Throughout her life, Cobell also helped her husband run their ranch. They raised cattle and grew crops. She cared deeply about local farming and the environment. She even started the first land trust in Indian Country. She also served as a Trustee for the Nature Conservancy of Montana.

Later Life

Elouise Cobell passed away at age 65 on October 16, 2011. She died in Great Falls, Montana, after a short illness with cancer.

Before her landmark lawsuit, Cobell was the president of Montana's Elvis Presley fan club. She stopped these activities to focus on her important legal fight. To honor her, all car radios during her funeral procession played Elvis songs. Her family even had life-size Elvis cutouts at her viewing.

Challenging Federal Management of Trust Funds

The Problem with Trust Funds

While Elouise Cobell was the Treasurer for the Blackfeet Tribe, she noticed many problems. These problems were with how the United States government managed money. This money was held in trust for the tribe and for individual Native Americans. These funds came from fees collected by the government. These fees were for leasing Native American trust lands for things like cutting lumber, drilling for oil, grazing animals, and mining gas and minerals. The government was supposed to pay these fees as royalties to the Native American landowners. Over time, these accounts became very complicated. Original trust lands were divided among many family members. Cobell found that tribal members were not getting the correct amount of money they were owed.

Seeking Justice

From the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, Cobell tried to get the government to fix these issues. She worked with the Intertribal Monitoring Association, where she served as President. They tried to bring about changes in Washington, D.C., but they were not successful.

Because of this, Elouise Cobell decided to take legal action. She asked lawyers Dennis Gingold and Thaddeus Holt, along with the Native American Rights Fund (including John EchoHawk and Keith Harper), to help. They decided to file a class-action lawsuit against the Department of Interior. The goal was to force the government to fix the problems and to provide a full accounting of the trust funds.

They created the Blackfeet Reservation Development Fund. This non-profit group was set up to bring claims against the United States for mismanaging lands held in trust for Native Americans.

Settlement

The Lawsuit's Outcome

The class-action lawsuit was officially filed in October 1996. It became known as Cobell v. Salazar. (Salazar was the Secretary of Interior when the case was settled.) In 2009, an agreement was reached with the government under President Barack Obama's administration.

In 2010, Congress passed a bill to provide $3.4 billion to settle the long-running lawsuit. The settlement had three main parts:

• Payments to the individual Native Americans who were part of the lawsuit.
• A fund of $1.9 billion to buy back divided land interests through voluntary sales. This helped return land to reservations, making their land base stronger.
• A $60 million scholarship fund. This fund was created from the land sales and was named the Cobell Education Scholarship Fund in Elouise's honor.

By July 2011, notices were sent to hundreds of thousands of Native Americans who were affected. Most received about $1800, but some received more. By November 2016, the government had spent about $900 million. This money was used to buy back land equal to 1.7 million acres, giving control of the land back to the tribes. Also, $40 million had been added to the Cobell Scholarship Fund.

When the settlement was reached in 2009, Elouise Cobell shared her thoughts:

Even though we settled for over $3.4 billion, it's probably less than what individual Native Americans were truly owed. We could have kept fighting longer to get every penny, or even more money. But we decided to settle now because our group was getting smaller every day as our elders passed away. We wanted them to receive their fair payment before it was too late.

Representation in Other Media

A 75-minute documentary film was made about Elouise Cobell's life and achievements. It is called 100 Years: One Woman's Fight for Justice (2016). It was directed by Melinda Janko and shown at the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival in October 2016.

Legacy and Honors

• 1997: Received a "Genius Grant" from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation's Fellowship Program.
• 2002: Awarded an honorary doctorate degree from Montana State University.
• 2002: Received the International Women's Forum award for "Women Who Make a Difference" in Mexico City.
• 2004: Received the Jay Silverheels Achievement Award.
• 2005: Received a "Cultural Freedom Fellowship" from the Lannan Foundation. This award recognized her strong will in showing how the government had mismanaged the Indian Trust for over a century.
• 2007: One of ten people to receive the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) Impact Award for making the world a better place.
• 2007: Named one of the first Rural Heroes by the National Rural Assembly.
• 2011: Awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from Dartmouth College.
• 2011: Awarded the Montana Trial Lawyers Association's Citizens Award.
• 2016: Awarded a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama. Her son, Turk Cobell, accepted the medal for her.
• 2018: Inducted into the first induction ceremony of the National Native American Hall of Fame.