Maria Pearson

Maria Darlene Pearson (Running Moccasins) was an activist and a central figure in the national movement for the repatriation and respectful treatment of Indigenous remains.

Pearson was born on July 12, 1932, in Springfield, South Dakota. Her mother gave her the Yankton name Hai-Mecha Eunka, meaning Running Moccasins. Though she attended both public and parochial schools, much of her education came from her grandmother, who raised her in the traditions of the Turtle Clan of the Yankton Sioux Tribe. Throughout her life, Pearson remained deeply connected to her heritage.

After marrying John Pearson, a district engineer with the Iowa Department of Transportation, Pearson moved to southwest Iowa. In 1971, during a highway construction project in Glenwood, Iowa, twenty-six white and two Native American skeletal remains were unearthed. The white remains were reburied in a cemetery, while the Native remains were sent to a state laboratory for archaeological study. Pearson was outraged by the disparity, believing it was unjust for Indigenous people to be denied the same dignity and protections in death.

The inspiration to act came to her as a spiritual calling, as she recounted later:

“Maria Pearson still remembers that long-ago wind blowing toward the house and the cottonwoods. ‘The leaves were tinkling, just like crystal,’ Pearson said of that spring evening in southwest Iowa more than 30 years ago. She stopped, listened, and heard her grandmother’s voice. Minnie Flute, a Yankton Sioux from South Dakota who had died six years earlier, was telling her granddaughter to stand up for her people. ‘You must protect where your ancestors lie,’ Flute’s voice said. ‘But I’m scared,’ Pearson answered. ‘The rednecks,’ she said, ‘they might hurt the children.’ Her grandmother’s voice responded: ‘Your ancestors will walk with you and protect you.’ " — Oelwein Daily Register, 19 Feb. 2002

Pearson brought her concerns directly to the Iowa State Capitol and then-Gov. Robert Ray, often arriving unannounced and dressed in traditional regalia. Her activism led to the passage of the Iowa Burial Protection Act of 1976, mandating the protection of ancient burial sites and the respectful reburial of Native American remains. The first of its kind, the act laid the groundwork for the federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), passed in 1990. Continuing her advocacy beyond the passage of the state law, Pearson served as an advisor to state and federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of the Interior, and spoke at numerous conferences on human rights, repatriation, and Indigenous sovereignty. Her efforts were recognized both nationally and internationally.

Maria Pearson died May 24, 2003, in Ames, Iowa.

Biographical information and photo courtesy of Ames History Museum.

Associated Press. 2002. “Iowa Woman Fights for Respect of Burial Mounds.” Oelwein Daily Register, February 2002.