Ignatia Broker, who died in 1987, was a member of the Ojibway tribe, the Ottertail Pillager Band, and the A-wa-sa-si Clan. She was born in 1919 on the White Earth Indian Reservation and attended an Indian boarding school in North Dakota. Her higher education included the Minnesota School of Business. Following this, she faced fierce discrimination when seeking employment. In 1966, she began a career with the Minneapolis Public Schools, where she became a member of the Minority Task Force, aiding in the development of the Title IV Indian Studies Curriculum. As a staff writer for the Audio Visual Based Indian Resource Unit of the Minneapolis Public Schools, she authored many stories, filmstrips, and booklets that are a part of the curriculum today. Broker was also a member of many Indian organizations and founded the Minnesota American Indian Historical Society. In 1984, she received a Wonder Woman Foundation award honoring her extraordinary accomplishments as a woman striving for peace and equality.
