Isabella Aiukli Cornell, Native American Activist (maxresdefault-photo-by-Doug-Hoke-e1763985654835.jpg)
WOMEN AND ADVERSITY
ISABELLA AIUKLI CORNELL
CITIZEN, CHOCTAW NATION OF OKLAHOMA
ACTIVIST FOR
NATIVE AMERICAN WOMEN
Isabella Aiukli(Eye⸍ ah klee)Cornell gained attention in 2018 when she wore her red prom dress bearing an appliqué across the bodice with Choctaw heritage symbols.
Cornell was making a statement: Pay attention to the violence Native American women face. A study from 2016 that National Institute of Justice conducted shows that more than four in five Native American and Alaska Native women have experienced violence. The Urban Indian Health Institute reported that of the 5,712 cases of violence reported in 2016, only 116 were put in the U.S. Department of Justice database. Figures show that 84 percent of Indigenous women experienced violence in their lifetimes. “We have a really high rate of [Indigenous] women who go missing every year, and there’s not a lot of media coverage about it,” Cornell said in a 2020 article by Emma Sears in www.cronkitenews.azpbs.org.
Cornell assisted Della Bighair-Stump, a Crow tribe Indigenous designer, in designing the prom dress, which bears several symbols:
- The diamond shape of the applique at the bodice is a symbol of the Diamondback snake, which is venerated by the Choctaw farmers, who believe the snake protects their crops.
- Wool comprises the top part of the dress to symbolize the history of Native Americans who traded fur for wool cloth.
- Red represents the only color spirits can see and so the spirits of the murdered women and children are guided back to be laid to rest in peace.
The dress is now part of the “Girlhood” display at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. “By having it in the museum, that means that a lot of other people will be able to see it and understand what’s going on, and that’s really just the whole goal behind all of this,” Cornell said.
When she was 14, Cornell stood alongside her mother organizing Matriarch, an Inter-Tribal nonprofit organization in Oklahoma whose purpose is to provide a safe space for women of the Choctaw, Cherokee and Chickasaw nations. It was co-founded in 2015 by Cornell’s mother, Sarah Adams-Cornell, and Kendra Wilson-Clements, both of Choctaw heritage. Its mission is to empower women and girls and build leaders.
When she was a student at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, Cornell made a ribbon skirt that Congresswoman Deb Haaland, former U.S. Secretary of the Department of the Interior, wore.
Cornell studied at Metropolitan State University of Denver and lives in Moore, Oklahoma. Her business is Aiukli Designs, which creates wearable art and specializes in ribbon skirts, beadwork, and dentalium jewelry, which are tusk-shaped shells. Her Facebook page says she studies at Oklahoma City University and is associate director of Matriarch. She is not married.
More Information
https://open.spotify.com/episode/6QzURc8J6AbgRVlXI4gcKj
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdpnjQlnSc
www.facebook.com/bella.cornell.77
www.instagram.com/aiuklidesigns/?hl=en
My ebooks available at amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com: Honoring 23 Black Women, Recognizing 23 Notable Mothers, Saluting 23 Faithful Suffragists
