Charon Asetoyer Papers, 1985-2008
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Sophia Smith Collection Smith College Northampton, MA
Finding aid encoded in NoteTab Pro. Encoded by Joanna Johnson. 2011-08-22
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Encoded Archival Description (EAD) Version 2002
collection
Charon Asetoyer Papers
Creation of Charon Asetoyer Papers
Time of Creation of Charon Asetoyer Papers
Asetoyer, Charon
Biographical History for: Charon Asetoyer Papers
Biographical Note Charon Virginia Asetoyer was born Charon Virginia Huber on March 24, 1951, in San Jose, California, to Virginia Asetoyer and Charles Eugene Huber. Virginia Asetoyer was Comanche from Oklahoma and Charles Huber of German and Irish descent. Charon was the younger of two daughters born to Virginia and Charles. The family also included a son from Charles's first marriage and daughter from Virginia's first marriage. Charon's business acumen developed early, in part through helping out in her father's printing company. At age 16, she started her own dress design enterprise, Charon of California, wholesaling to dress shops in San Francisco. She became immersed in the cultural life of Haight-Ashbury and dropped out of high school. "I just couldn't see staying in school, because I was getting so much more...from what was going on in the coffee shops and out on the street and just a whole different philosophy. And I was ready... I was independent and creative, an entrepreneur. And so I got an apartment in San Francisco, with the blessings of my parents." (Voices of Feminism oral history, 2006 p. 20) In 1968, Asetoyer opened a boutique on Haight Street called Orpheus, but eventually decided to return to school, closing the shop and entering San Francisco City College in 1971. Charon Asetoyer card in the women activists card series published by the Ms. Foundation for Women as part of their Take Our Daughters To Work project, 1994 Already an activist from her high school days, the social and political ferment of the late 1960s-early 1970s San Francisco " really opened my mind up to a whole lot of things that I never thought existed." (VOF p 20) She got involved with the American Indian Movement during the 1969-71 occupation of Alcatraz Island. Asetoyer married a jazz musician Dennis Duncan in 1972, dropped out of college and went to work in the financial district. In 1975 a friend urged her to join the staff of the Urban Indian Health Clinic where she worked until 1977 as a Nutritional Counselor and WIC (Women Infants and Children Program) Specialist. Asetoyer described her 10-year relationship with Duncan as "extremely abusive." After years of back and forth with him, she decided a final break required distance and in 1977 she moved to South Dakota where she returned to college, earning a BA in Criminal Justice from the University of South Dakota in 1981. While in school, Asetoyer served on the Board of Directors of Native American Inmates Legal Services in Sioux Falls (1978-79) and was active in the Tiyospaye Council the Native American Student Association. Asetoyer began using her mother's family name after her divorce from Duncan. In 1981, she and her second husband, Clarence Rockboy, moved to Brattleboro, Vermont, where Asetoyer earned a double Master's degree in 1983 in International Administration and Intercultural Management at the School for International Training (SIT). Her son, Chaska, was born there in 1982. The couple also adopted Rockboy's orphaned nephew Reynolds James Bruguier. After the death of Rockboy's father in 1982, the family moved to the Yankton Sioux Reservation in South Dakota to fulfill Rockboy's four-year cultural and religious memorial commitment. Initially, they intended to stay only four years, but found "there was all this work that had to be done." (VOF p 24) In South Dakota, Asetoyer created and briefly directed a health program for Women of All Red Nations (WARN) as part of her SIT internship requirements. The program worked to address fetal alcohol syndrome and the many related issues on three South Dakota reservations. Not entirely happy with the administration of the WARN program, Asetoyer left and with, Rockboy, Everdale Song Hawk, Jackie Rouse, and Lorenzo Dion founded the Native American Community Board (NACB) in their town, Lake Andes, in 1985. "I wanted to get serious about this work. I felt that it was an issue that was plaguing our communities and that we really needed to get a handle on it." (VOF p 27) The Board was at first run out of an office in the basement of Asetoyer and Rockboy's home. NACB's first project, "Women and Children in Alcohol" aimed to address, in Asetoyer's words, "fetal alcohol syndrome and all of the residual issues related to it, because you get into children's issues, you get into education, you get into women's issues and needs. And you get into how women were treated who were chemically dependent and how their rights were being violated." (VOF 27) Through this project, NACB realized the scope of unmet needs in their community, particularly those related to women and health. At the time the unemployment rate on the reservation was eighty-five per cent, seventy per cent of adults over age forty suffered from diabetes, the infant mortality rate was five times the national average, and life expectancy on the reservation was just forty five years. Asetoyer began speaking and writing about fetal alcohol syndrome and NACB's program. Conferences and meetings presented invaluable opportunities to meet and build relationships with other women working on related issues. As with the FAS project, Asetoyer worked to expand and reframe the reproductive health agenda beyond simply preventing pregnancy and into "domestic violence,...the right to parent your children in a nonviolent home; the right to live as a woman in a nonviolent environment; the right to food, to be able to feed your family, to be able to feed yourself; the right to health care; the right to be able to have as many children as you wanted - or not." (VOF 39) Inspired by a visit to the National Black Women's Health Project in Atlanta, Georgia, Asetoyer began to imagine a similar facility in Lake Andes that was more of a center than an office. In 1988 the NACB purchased a house across the street from Asetoyer and Rockboy's home and established the Native American Women's Health Education Resource Center (NAWHERC). NAWHERC assists women and their families through direct services, public policy advocacy, and coalition building with Indigenous women around the world. The Center is noted for its community-based research and publications, which have influenced policies and practices of the Indian Health Service and other agencies. [See finding aid for the Records of the Native American Women's Health Education Resource Center for more]. In addition to her role as Executive Director of the Resource Center, Asetoyer continues to travel extensively, speaking, and serving on committees, boards, and advisory councils around the world. She has participated in many international conferences including the Fourth World Conference on Women in Nairobi, Kenya in 1995, the Second International Conference of AIDS-Related Non-Governmental Organizations in Paris, France in 1990; the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna, Austria in 1994; the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo, Egypt in 1994; and the Reproductive Health and Justice International Women's Health Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1994. She has been involved in the Working Group on Indigenous Populations at the United Nations from its early stages and was one of the founding co-chairs of the Working Group's Committee on Health. Asetoyer was a delegate to the First People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit in October 1991 and was on the drafting committee for the Principles of Environmental Justice. She is an enrolled member of the Comanche Tribe of Oklahoma. She has served on the boards of the American Indian Center (San Francisco), the National Women's Health Network, the Indigenous Women's Network, the National Environmental Justice Advisory Committee (NEJAC) of the Environmental Protection Agency, and Honor the Earth. During the Clinton Administration she was appointed to one of the National Advisory Councils for Health and Human Services. Asetoyer ran unsuccessfully for Mayor of Lake Andes in 2005. Highly restrictive anti-abortion measures voted into law in South Dakota in February of 2006 prompted Asetoyer to run for state senate as a pro-choice, pro-women's health Democrat in 2006 and again in 2008. Both of these efforts were unsuccessful. Clarence Rockboy died on December 24, 2006. Awards and honors include the United Nations Distinguished Service Award (1985); the Mother Jones magazine Heroes and Heroines Honor Role (1990); the Gloria Steinem Women of Vision Award of the Ms. Foundation for Women (1991); the Jessie Bernard Wise Women Award from the Center for Women Policy Studies (2001); and in 2005 Women's eNews named her one of its 21 Leaders for the 21st Century. Asetoyer's work was featured in the book 250 Ways to Make America Better by the editors of George magazine and in a profile in Glamor in August 2008.
Charon Asetoyer began donating her Papers along with the Records of the Native American Women's Health Education Resource Center (NAWHERC) to the Sophia Smith Collection in 2006.
Scope and Contents of the Collection The Charon Asetoyer Papers consist of 3.75 linear ft. and are related to her professional and public life. The bulk of the papers date from 1990 to 2005 and focus on Asetoyer's activism on indigenous rights, women's health, and reproductive justice issues on the local, national, and international level. Major topics include Fetal Alcohol Syndrome; HIV/AIDS and Native Americans; economic development; health care for rural and underserved populations; links between the environment and health; and indigenous women's activism and leadership. Types of materials include correspondence, speeches, press releases, reports, journal and newspaper articles, transcripts of interviews, writings, and memorabilia. The bulk of the papers date from 1990 to 2005 and focus on Asetoyer's activism in indigenous rights, women's health, and reproductive justice issues on the local, national, and international level. Major topics include Fetal Alcohol Syndrome; HIV/AIDS and Native Americans; economic development; health care for rural and underserved populations; links between the environment and health; and indigenous women's activism and leadership. Files in Series II. Conferences, Consultations, and Meetings document Asetoyer's active involvement in a wide variety of important gatherings all over the world. Her commitment, expertise, and experience make her an in-demand speaker and participant. Series III. Organizations contains materials about Asetoyer's membership on Boards and committees, such as Honor the Earth, the Indigenous Women's Network, the National Minority AIDS Council, and the National Women's Health Network. Other organization files provide extensive evidence of work on these issues in coalition with individual women and women's organizations around the world Copies of Asetoyer's writings and some speech texts can be found in Series IV. Speeches and Writings. A few speech texts are in Series II. Conference, Consultations, and Meetings. While the papers do not include much information about Asetoyer's family and personal life, Series I. Biographical Materials contains some interviews and newspaper clippings as well as "Grey Mountain's Story," about her Comanche ancestors. NOTE: Original audio-visual materials are closed to research. Researchers interested in accessing audio-visual materials for which there is no extant use copy should contact the Sophia Smith Collection to discuss options. Researchers should also consult the Records of the Native American Women's Health Education Resource Center.
Periodic additions to this collection are expected and may not be reflected in this record.
The Papers are open to research according to the regulations of the Sophia Smith Collection except for the following restrictions: Original audio-visual materials are closed to research. Researchers interested in accessing audio-visual materials for which there is no extant use copy should contact the Sophia Smith Collection to discuss options.
The Sophia Smith Collection owns copyright to Charon Asetoyer's unpublished works. Permission must be obtained to publish reproductions or quotations beyond "fair use." Copyright to materials authored by others may be owned by those individuals or their heirs or assigns. It is the responsibility of the researcher to identify and satisfy the holders of all copyrights. Permission to publish reproductions or quotations beyond "fair use" must also be obtained from the Sophia Smith Collection as owners of the physical property.
Related materials can be found in the following collections: The Records of the Native American Women's Health Education Resource Center, the Black Women's Health Imperative (formerly National Black Women's Health Project), the National Women's Health Network, and the Undivided Rights Book Project. See also the personal papers of Byllye Avery, Luz Alvarez Martinez, Katsi Cook. A 2006 interview with Charon Asetoyer is part of the SSC's Voices of Feminism Oral History Project. View the full transcript online.
Processed by Maida Goodwin, 2011
Indian women -- Medical care -- History -- 20th century -- Sources
lcsh
Indian women -- Health and hygiene -- History -- 20th century -- Sources
Indians of North America -- History -- 20th century -- Sources
Indians Of North America -- South Dakota -- Social conditions -- Sources
Women's health services -- United States -- History -- Sources
Abused women -- Services for -- South Dakota
Reproductive health -- South Dakota
Public health -- United States -- History -- Sources
Reproductive rights -- United States -- History -- Sources
Family violence -- United States -- History -- Sources
lcnaf
Yankton Indian Reservation (S.D.) -- Social conditions
series
SERIES I. BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS
General, 1985-2006, n.d.
Clippings, 1990-2008
Resume, 1990, n.d.
Awards and honors
Mother Jones Heroes and Heroines Honor Roll, Jan 1990
Ms. Foundation for Women, Gloria Steinem Award, 1991
Ms. Foundation for Women, Take Our Daughters to Work trading cards, 2004
Women's eNews, 21 Leaders for the 21st Century,2005
Correspondence (including electronic mail), 1986-2006, n.d.
Family: "Grey Mountain's Story," 1995
Interview in Search magazine, Mar 1993
Interview with Larry Greenfield [transcript], 29 Sep 1997
Interview with Alana Y. Price, [audio cd]26 Jul 2006
Monthly planner, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994
Photograph, 2001
Program proposal: "Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Among Indigenous Populations of East and South Africa," 1988
South Dakota Senate campaign
General, 2005-06
Abortion ban clippings, 2006
Correspondence, 2006
Clippings and blog posts(?), 2006
SERIES II. CONFERENCES, CONSULTATIONS, AND MEETINGS
Occupational Segregation and its Roots in Education: A Policy Seminar, Center for Women Policy Studies, 23-24 May 1988
Conference in Defense of Roe, ACLU and Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights, Apr 1989
Training Conference, Ms Foundation for Women and Reproductive Rights Coalition Fund, Oct 1989
World Health Organization Consultation on AIDS Prevention and Care, Dec 1989
Women's Health Month Planning Day, Ohio Department of Health, Feb 1990
South Dakota Dialogue, Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights, May 1990
Women of Color Institute, National Coalition Against Sexual Assault, Jul 1990
Ad-hoc Working Group Conference on Women and AIDS, Act-Up, Sep 1990
Second International Conference of AIDS-Related Non-Governmental Organizations, Paris, France, Nov 1990
Women's Health Issues Conference, Center for Health Training, Nov 1990
National Conference on Women and HIV Infection, Dec 1990
Indian Women's Issues Roundtable, Indian Health Service, 1991
People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit, Oct 1991
Norplant and Low-Income Women, Kaiser Family Foundation, Nov 1991
International Counterpart Forum, Jul 1992
Rocky Mountain Regional Conference on HIV, Feb 1993
Managing Tribal Assets, 4th Annual Oweesta Conference, First Nations Development Institute, Mar 1993
The Fight for Abortion Rights and Reproductive Freedom, Civil Liberties and Public Policy Program at Hampshire College, Apr 1993
Women Organizers Strategy Retreat, Health Care: We Gotta Have It!, Jan 1993-94
World Conference on Human Rights, Vienna, Oct 1994
International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), Cairo, U.S. Women of Color Delegation, 1993-94
Reproductive Health and Justice International Women's Health Conference, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Jan 1994
The Breast Cancer Epidemic and Nuclear Radiation, Feb 1994
Fourth World Conference on Women preparatory meeting, Vienna, Austria, Oct 1994
Challenges in Health Care for Underserved Populations, Cancer Screening in American Indian Women, Nov 1994
Women's Global Strategies Meeting, Nov-Dec 1994
Strategy Meeting on the Human Genome Diversity Project and It's Implications for Indigenous Peoples, 1994
National Health Policy Forum meeting on Indian health issues, 10 Mar 1995
Women's Health and the Environment: Action for Prevention Summit, Greenpeace, May 1995
Workshop on Financing Strategies for Sustainable Community Services, Jul 1995
Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, China, Sep 1995
National Skills Building Conference, Oct 1995
Roundtable of Human Rights Treaty Bodies on Human Rights Approaches to Women's Health, Dec 1996
World Health Organization, Health of Indigenous Peoples Initiative Report of Meeting, Dec 1997
International Indian Treaty Council, Jun 1999
World Health Organization, International Consultation on the Health of Indigenous Peoples, Geneva, Switzerland, Nov 1999
Consultation on Consumer Education for Families of Color, Johnson & Johnson, Nov 2002
Minnesota Indigenous Language Symposium Oct 2003
American Public Health Association, Nov 2003
Ford Foundation Conversation on a new women's movement, 12 Dec 2003
Building Common Ground: An Open Dialogue between the Violence Prevention and Reproductive Health Movements, 8-9 Nov 2004
Indian Health Service Research Conference, n.d.
Miscellaneous, 1989-95, n.d.
SERIES III. ORGANIZATIONS
American Civil Liberties Union, Health/Rights Advisory Panel, 1990
American Federation of Teachers Breast and Cervical Cancer Project Advisory Board, 1994-96
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Advisory Council, 1988-91
Girls Inc., Teen Connections Advisory Council, 1990-92
Green Cross, 1992, n.d.
Honor the Earth
General, 2004-05
Advisory Board
Grant proposals, 2005
Indigenous Women's Network
General, 1993-2002, n.d.
Alma de Mujer Conference Center Committee, 1994-2004
Capacity Building and Board Training packet, Nov 2004
Honor the Earth Campaign, 1996
Indigenous Women's Working Group-Mothers of Nations,1994-99
Journal of the American Medical Women's Association, reviewer,1996
National Action Plan on Breast Cancer Hereditary Susceptibility Working Group, 1996
National Demonstration of the Community Care Network Steering Committee, 1994
National Minority AIDS Council, Advisory Board
General, 1990-96
First Women of Color Leadership Forum, Aug 1993
National Women's Health Network, Board of Directors, 1988-95
Park Ridge Center, Research participant for Religion and the Public Discourse project, 1998
Resourceful Women Award Team, 1992
United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, 2002
United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations, Committee on Indigenous Health (COIH), 1996-98
United States Department of Health and Human Services, Ad Hoc Native American Media Advisory Committee, 1992-93
Women of Color Coalition for Reproductive Health Rights, 1992-94
Women of Color Reproductive Health Opinion Research Project, Advisory Council, 1991-92
Women's Congress on National Health Care Steering Committee, 1991
Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), 1995-97
Miscellaneous, 1988-2003
SERIES IV. SPEAKING AND WRITING
Articles, letters to editor, statements, and testimony, 1986-2006, n.d.
"Corporate America Has Your Address: Indigenous Lands and Toxic Waste," National Association of County and City Health Officials, 1998
"An Examination of Indigenous Women's Reproductive and Sexual Health and Rights," background paper for Roundtable of Human Rights Treaty Bodies on Human Rights Approaches to Women's Health, Dec 1996
"Fetal Alcohol Syndrome: A Nation in Distress" in Soujourner and Front Line Feminism, 1975-95: Essays from Sojourner's First 20 Years
"Fetal Alcohol Syndrome: An International Concern," Winds of Change, Dec 1987
"First There Was Smallpox" in Women, AIDS and Activism, 1990
"Health and Reproductive Rights" in Indigenous Women Address the World, a document derived from the U.N. Fourth World Conference on Women, 1995
"HIV and Native Americans: An Overview" in HIV Prevention in Native American Communities
"HIV/AIDS Universal Precaution Practices in Sun Dance Ceremonies" in Journal of Health Education, Nov/Dec 1997
"HIV Cultural Competency Within Native American Communities," The Summit on National Guidelines, Planning Committee Meeting [National Advisory Council on HIV Health Disparities]: presentation slides Jun 2005
"Indigenous Women's Health and Rights are...Human Rights" Funders Network on Population, Reproductive Health, and Rights Annual Meeting, Cuernavaca, Mexico: presentation slides, 2005
"Mother Earth is Not For Sale: The Struggle Never Stops" draft for Ms., n.d.
"Population Control: What's In Store for Indigenous Peoples" 6 Oct 1996
Remarks to the Advisory Committee on the Employment of Women in South Dakota, 1993
"South Dakota's New Murderers," TomPaine.com Commentary, by Lynn Paltrow and Charon Asetoyer, 21 Mar 2006
"Toxics-Household, Medical Waste, Landfills, Incinerators and Nuclear Waste Issues and Our Environment: Community Empowerment Methods" workshop, 23 Sep 1992
SERIES V. AUDIOVISUAL MATERIALS
[NOTE: Original Audiovisual items are closed, use copies must be made for research use]
13 Radio interviews with Charon Asetoyer [audio cd] 1998-2006
Interview with Charon Asetoyer conducted by Alana Y. Price [audio cd]26 Jul 2006
Minnesota Indigenous Language Symposium, Highlights, Producer Lorraine Norrgard, The Grotto Foundation & the Dept of American Indian Studies, College of Liberal Arts, University of Minnesota [dvd] 16-17 Oct 2003
"HIV Cultural Competency Within Native American Communities," The Summit on National Guidelines, Planning Committee Meeting [National Advisory Council on HIV Health Disparities]: presentation slides, [cd]Jun 2005