Barbara Cameron was an extraordinary woman. A Hunkpapa Lakota, lesbian, Two-Spirit leader, AIDS activist, and pioneer social organizer in San Francisco’s Native American community. Cameron embraced the term Two-Spirit to make Two-Spirit people visible to all Americans. Although it has only been 20 years since her passing, pioneering figures like Cameron are largely forgotten.
Author: Gregory D. Smithers
Gregory D. Smithers is a professor of history at Virginia Commonwealth University and a British Academy global professor with the Treatied Spaces Research Cluster at the University of Hull. His new book is Reclaiming Two-Spirits: Sexuality, Spiritual Renewal, and Sovereignty in Native America (Beacon Press, 2022).