Elouise Cobell Has Passed Away

Levi Rickert, editor-in-chief in Native Briefs. Discussion »

Native Brief: WASHINGTON DC - Elouise Cobell, Blackfeet, passed away yesterday after a courageous battle with cancer. She was 65.

In 1996, Cobell filed an historic lawsuit against the federal government seeking justice for the government's mismanagement of 500,000 Individual Indian Trust accounts.

The White House released the following statement from President Barak Obama earlier today:

Michelle and I were saddened to hear about the passing of Elouise Cobell yesterday. Elouise spoke out when she saw that the Interior Department had failed to account for billions of dollars that they were supposed to collect on behalf of more than 300,000 of her fellow Native Americans. Because she did, I was able to sign into law a piece of legislation that finally provided a measure of justice to those who were affected. That law also creates a scholarship fund to give more Native Americans access to higher education, and give tribes more control over their own lands. Elouise helped to strengthen the government to government relationship with Indian Country, and our thoughts and prayers are with her family, and all those who mourn her passing.

posted October 17, 2011 4:00 pm edt