Geraldine Janis

Geraldine Janis (1928 – 2005) was an Oglala Lakota from the Pine Ridge reservation who served as the Coordinator for the Community Health Program. Her team of four community health representatives— Ellen Moves Camp, Della Star, Minerva Walks Out, and Victoria Wounded Foot—regularly visited families across the reservation. As a result, Janis was intimately connected with her community and saw their everyday struggles firsthand.

Janis was a co-founder of the Oglala Civil Rights Organization (OSCRO), and was one of several women who called for AIM’s assistance in opposing Dick Wilson’s government. Janis dedicated her life to improving the health of her community.

Geraldine Janis coordinated support efforts outside of Wounded Knee, gathering the food, blankets, and medical supplies that were regularly moved past the FBI’s blockades. She also helped organize regular demonstrations outside the tribal government office in Pine Ridge. Janis and five other women were all fired from their positions with the Community Health Program for “demonstrating to overthrow the tribal government” and later filed a lawsuit with the Department of Justice. In the years following the occupation, Janis and the other Oglala women who had taken a stand at Wounded Knee regularly faced threats and intimidation from Wilson’s Goons. Her teenage daughter, Eileen, faced near daily confrontations during this time . Eileen Janis later carried on her mother’s work in fighting the epidemic of youth suicide on Pine Ridge and passed away November 19, 2022 after a brief struggle with cancer.