Every year in the United States, November is designated as Native American Heritage Month. While tribes and Native communities are thankful for the chance to build connections and educate others about our cultures and histories during that time, it fails to capture the true nature of our intersectional, multifaceted identities.

Natives were subjected to centuries of genocide, assimilation, and oppression. One aspect of our attempted extermination that endures to this day is erasure, especially of Native women and the vital role they’ve played in shaping, defending, and strengthening our Native nations.

Since March is Women’s History Month, let’s get to know some truly phenomenal Native women.

Toypurina, Kumivit (Tongva)

Toypurina was born in 1760 in what is now known as Southern California. Her childhood was tumultuous. Spanish invaders colonized the Los Angeles Basin that the Tongva called home. They erected 20 fortified missions and began trying to convert Toypurina’s people to Catholicism. The spiritual practices and customs of Indigenous people were outlawed and those caught partaking in their ancestral belief systems were punished by being whipped, caned, or beaten, while some Tongva were forcibly baptized. Rape was common. The Spaniards also spread contagious diseases among the Tongva, killing thousands.

But Toypurina was a rebel. She persisted in learning Tongva spirituality, and by 24, she was a medicine woman and a respected leader in her own right. When the Spanish banned traditional dancing, it was the last straw for Toypurina. She organized a rebellion.

In October 1785, Tongva warriors scaled the walls and stormed San Gabriel Mission, led by Toypurina, who was pregnant. The revolt was unsuccessful, and Toypurina was captured.

At her trial, Toypurina was unafraid and brutally honest. When questioned about her involvement, she apparently said, “I am angry with the padres, and all of those of the mission, for living here on my land, for trespassing upon the land of my forefathers and despoiling our tribal domains.”

Called a witch by Spaniards who feared her power and had no understanding of Tongva spirituality, she was found guilty of leading the revolt. She died at 39 years of age, after years of imprisonment and being exiled from her homelands.

Lozen, Chiricahua Apache

To some, she is the "Apache Joan of Arc." You’ve likely heard of Geronimo, but you’ve probably never heard of Lozen (meaning “Dexterous Horse Thief”), a medicine woman, prophetess, midwife, and two-spirit warrior, who fought by his side with her brother, Victorio.

She could ride and shoot and was a brilliant military strategist who seemed to be able to predict the enemy’s movements — skills that became invaluable once the U.S. government began encroaching on Apache lands.

The desert is punishing to most, but her people knew how to thrive in the harsh elements. There is even a story of Lozen delivering a baby in the desert while the U.S. Cavalry was hunting her Tribe.

She fought alongside Geronimo for six years until she was imprisoned at a military arsenal in Alabama, where she died of tuberculosis and was buried in an unmarked grave. Her wife, Dahteste, was allowed to return to the Mescalero Reservation in New Mexico, but it is said that she never recovered from the loss of Lozen. Lozen is remembered with a nickname given to her by her brother Victorio: A Shield to Her People.

Buffalo Calf Road Woman, Northern Cheyenne

The Lakota and Northern Cheyenne have been allies for centuries. That’s why Buffalo Calf Road Woman, her husband Black Coyote, and their daughter were in the heart of Lakota Treaty Lands in the summer of 1876. Tensions were high. The federal government was in breach of the Fort Laramie Treaty, which formally established the territorial claims of several tribes, and the Lakota were prepared to defend their lands. At the Battle of Rosebud, Lakota and Northern Cheyenne clashed with the U.S. Cavalry. When soldiers shot at Comes In Sight, Buffalo Calf Road Woman’s brother, she ran through a hail of bullets in her elk-tooth dress to save him. That’s why, to the Northern Cheyenne, that place is now called, “Where the Girl Saved Her Brother.” As General George Crook and his men retreated, Lakota and Northern Cheyenne were victorious.