About Oh Shinnah Fast Wolf

There is a moment of silence. In a split second the expression in her eyes changes radically. She no longer is merely a teacher. All of a sudden she is the woman she was born to be - the Warrior.  Her dark hazel eyes hold steadfast and her voice leaves no room for doubt: “As a warrior woman, I am ready to die for what I believe in”. The Native American icon with the long white hair and the third braid signifying to the world her status as a Warrior Woman is as untamed as she is dignified, as deeply rooted in the earth as she is outspoken for the earth's children and ecosystem. Oh Shinnah Fast Wolf is a woman of purpose, a leader of her people and a bearer of her tradition.

Oh Shinnah was born in January of 1934 on her grandmother’s kitchen table as the blizzard that swept through Colorado that night made her parents' trip to the hospital impossible. Her father, who had hoped for a girl, educated her in his ancestors' ways and had her complete all the physical, mental, and spiritual training undertaken by the men of his Chiricahua Band of the Shishindi Nation (commonly known as Apache).

In addition the young girl, who also bears a Mohawk lineage from her mother and a Scottish heritage from her maternal great grandfather, went through the Western educational system with ease and was a Ford Foundation scholar at the University of Chicago at age 14. Oh Shinnah holds a BA in Music Theory and an MA in Voice from Denver University, a BA in Clinical Psychology and a MA and honorary PhD in Experimental Psychology from the University of Chicago.

Now in the Grandmother phase of her life, Oh Shinnah, who has both studied and taught with some of the best known Native elders, is a poet, songwriter, singer, activist and ceremonial leader. She is a two-time winner of the Chicago Critics Poetry Award, winner of the Helen Caldecott Humanitarian Award for Women and many other prestigious honors. Oh Shinnah has been a delegate to the U.N. Conferences on Human Environment, Spirituality, and the Decolonization of Indigenous People, and the World Conference of Spiritual Leaders.