Dolly Akers

Dolly Akers (March 23, 1901 – June 5, 1986) was an Assiniboine woman who was the first Native American woman elected to the Montana Legislature with 100% of the Indian vote and the first woman elected to the Tribal Executive Board of the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation. Quotes I am a very necessary evil. I try to stay in the background, but every now and then I have to come out and kick some body in the shins. Dolly Smith Cusker Akers Retrieved 5 April 2025 Why should Indian people be forced to live under a law made some 80 years ago? That is the year in which the Indian Commissioner referred to Indians as ‘wild beasts! There can be no real solution of the so-called ‘Indian problem’ unless the Interior Department embraces the principle of self-determination of Indian people by actual practice The archaic protective rules and laws merely tend to hamper the Indian people from attaining their final goal of self-sufficiency, which is the goal of Congress for the Interior Department to foster. I am a very necessary evil. I try to stay in the background, but every now and then I have to come out and kick somebody in the shins. “I am a very necessary evil”: The Political Career of Dolly Smith Cusker Akers Retrieved 5 April 2025 Quotes about Dolly Akers Assertive and self-reliant—as she believed tribes should be—Akers achieved many notable accomplishments in her lifetime, but not without conflict and criticism. Dolly Akers will be remembered differently by those who benefited from her actions and those whose shins got bruised. “I am a very necessary evil”: The Political Career of Dolly Smith Cusker Akers Retrieved 5 April 2025 External Links Category:Women politicians in the United States Category:Legislators