Barbara May Cameron is a famous Native American photographer, poet, and writer. At the same time, he was also a human rights activist in the fields of lesbian or gay rights, women’s rights, and Native American rights. As per the sources, Cameron won media and theatre arts awards. However, her untimely death was the cause of her not finishing her screenplay “Long Time, No See.”
Apart from all this, Cameron also co-founded the Gay American Indians, the first gay American Indian liberation organization. Well, the reason why he founded this organization was that he realized that the Native American gay people had different needs and struggles than the white guy community. Stay with us until the end if you are eager to find out all the details about Barbara May Cameron. Let’s take a look!
Who Is Barbara May Cameron?
Barbara was born to her parents on the 22nd of May 1954 in North Dakota, United States. Therefore, she was only 47 years of age when she died in the year 2002. As per the sources, she was a Hunkpapa Lakota from the Fort Yates band. This was of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in Fort Yates.
As per the sources, she grew up on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, North Dakota, and was raised by her grandparents. After completing her early education and high schooling on the reservation, she went on to further her education. But this time it was in the field of photography and film. She fulfilled her passion and dream at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. However, she moved to San Francisco to attend the San Francisco Art Institute. Let us now shed some light on his career details.
Career Details Of Barbara May Cameron
As we said earlier, Cameron was one of the most famous personalities in the film industry. So as a photographer and movie maker, she won media and theater arts awards. Sadly, her screenplay “Long Time, No See” remained unfinished due to her untimely death.
Do you know she founded the first gay American Indian liberation organization? Yes, it was the popular organization Gay American Indians (GAI). Well, the real reason behind establishing this was that he felt that the needs and struggles of Native American Gays were far more different than those of the white gay community. In other words, there was a general lack of support for the people whose sexuality and color did not conform to societal demands.
As per the sources, Cameron contributed to the anthology “Our Right to Love: A Lesbian Resource Book” in 1978. Moreover, from 1980 to 1985 he took part in organizing the Lesbian Gay Freedom Day Parade and Celebration. It was at this time she also played a major role in the book “This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color.” Apart from these books, she contributed to several other famous books.
Few More Unknown Facts About Cameron’s Life
To add to his list of honors, Cameron was also the vice president of the Alce B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club and co-chair for Lesbian Agenda for Action in the 1980s. In fact, in 1986, Cameron and a few other women, went to Nicaragua to study and show solidarity to the women there. At the same time, in 1988, she served as a delegate for Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Coalition. However, this was for the Democratic National Convention.
Moreover, the people also appointed her as the Mayor to serve the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. After that, she acted as the executive director of Community United Against Violence. They assisted victims of domestic violence and hate crimes. She also won the Harvey Milk Award for her selfless Community Service in 1992.
In addition, she was the first recipient of the Bay Area Career Women Community Service Award. Later, that same year, she participated in an International Conference on AIDS. Google honored her in the form of a Google Doodle to recognize her immense contribution to the community.
How Was Cameron’s Personal Life?
As per the sources, Cameron was in a 21-year relationship with Linda Boyd. She also raised a son with her. They were a happy couple until her death. She died of natural causes at her home on February 12, 2002. Cameron was only 47 years old at that time.
Since she was a very prominent personality of that time, people from various fields attended her memorial service. Even today we all remember her for her advocacy of gay and lesbian Native Americans.
Ending Note
So, as we conclude, we can say that some people work for others selflessly. They gain happiness from others well being. Barbara May Cameron was one of those personalities who contributed immensely to the people of her community.
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