Sarah Eagle Heart facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Sarah Eagle Heart
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| Born | c.1977 |
| Occupation | Producer, writer, and activist |
| Partner(s) | Kevin Killer |
| Children | 2 |
Sarah Eagle Heart is a Native American producer, writer, and activist. She was born around 1977. She leads the Return to the Heart Foundation. This group helps people and projects, and it started in 2020 to encourage people to vote.
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Growing Up and School
Sarah Eagle Heart is part of the Oglala Sioux Nation. She grew up on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. She has a twin sister, Emma, and a younger brother, Troy. When Sarah was seven, her mother, a police officer, was badly hurt. Her mother could no longer work, so their family helped raise them.
Sarah became an activist when she was still a teenager. She and her sister went to a high school in Martin, South Dakota. Most students there were white. They faced unfair treatment and bullying. They led a protest against the school's use of Native American mascots. They also protested a homecoming event that made fun of Native American figures. The local American Indian Movement group supported them. A few years later, the school stopped using those figures.
Sarah went to Black Hills State University. She earned degrees in Mass Communications and American Indian Studies. Later, she got a Master's degree in Business Administration from University of Phoenix.
Her Work and Projects
Sarah Eagle Heart has worked in many different places. She worked in New York City for the Episcopal Church. There, she helped lead the church to reject the Doctrine of Discovery in 2009. This old idea had been used to justify European claims to lands in the Americas. The Episcopal Church was the first major Christian church to do this.
Sarah has also worked with non-profit groups (NGOs). Her goal is to promote Native Americans and share their stories. From 2015 to 2022, she was the CEO of Native Americans in Philanthropy. This group helps support giving and charity efforts by Indigenous groups.
Sarah helped start the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition. This group works to help people understand the harm caused by U.S. Indian Boarding Schools. These schools tried to force Native American children to give up their culture. The Coalition supports the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative. This effort was started in 2021 by Deb Haaland. It aims to investigate and document these schools.
Since 2022, Sarah has been the CEO of the Return to the Heart Foundation. This group started in 2020 to encourage people to vote. Now, it gives money to many different Indigenous businesses and non-profits. This helps them grow and develop.
Films and Other Media
Sarah Eagle Heart has worked on several film projects. She has lived in Los Angeles for many years. She was a co-producer for the animated short film Crow: The Legend (2018). This virtual reality (VR) movie tells a Native American folktale. She won an Emmy for her work on this film.
She also produced the documentary Lakota Nation vs. the United States (2022). She worked with actor Mark Ruffalo on this film. The movie explores the conflict between Indigenous peoples and European settlers. It focuses on the fight for control of the Black Hills. This land is sacred to the Oglala people. The film shares the views of many Indigenous activists. Sarah is also working on a TV series, a horror film, and a drama film script.
Sarah and her twin sister, Emma Eagle Heart-White, wrote a book together. It is called Warrior Princesses Strike Back: How Lakota Twins Fight Oppression and Heal through Connectedness (2023). In the book, they share stories about growing up on the Pine Ridge Reservation. The book also offers self-help ideas for women of color. It talks about how past events can affect families for generations. It also shares ideas about "decolonial therapy."
Awards and Recognition
- 2019: Won an Emmy for Outstanding Interactive Media. This was for her role as co-producer of Crow: The Legend.
- 2017: Received the American Express NGen Leadership Award.
- 2014: Named one of the "Top 40 under 40" by the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development.
Her Family Life
Sarah Eagle Heart had her first child at age 18. She raised her two sons, Aaron and Brendan Cuny, as a single mother. She finished her university degrees while raising them. She made sure her sons grew up with Oglala Sioux traditions. Both of them have taken part in the Sun Dance ceremony on the reservation since they were young.
Her partner is Kevin Killer, an activist and politician. He is also Oglala Sioux. He has served in the South Dakota state legislature. He was also the 44th President of the Oglala Sioux Tribe from 2020 to 2022.
