Ella Pierre Aquino

Ella Pierre Aquino (September 20, 1902 – 1988) was a Lummi-Yakama-Puyallup civil rights activist and community organizer who was a matriarch of the Native American community in Seattle. She advocated on behalf of foster children and co-founded the American Indian Women's Service League in 1958. She published the Indian Center News and served as editor and columnist for the Northwest Indian News. Aquino was one of the key organizers of the occupation of Fort Lawton in 1970, which led to the establishment of the Daybreak Star Cultural Center in Discovery Park. She was the subject of the 1987 documentary Princess of the Pow Wow.

Early life and education Ella Claudia Pierre was born in Puyallup, Washington, on September 20, 1902, one of 12 children. Her father August Pierre was Lummi and her mother Annie was Yakama and Puyallup. Her grandfather had signed the 1855 Treaty of Point Elliott, when he was given the name Jack Pierre. and left school after the eighth grade.

Community activism Indian foster children Aquino moved to Seattle in 1944. For a time, it was one of the only organizations providing social services for the Seattle Native American community. The organization received assistance from anthropologist Erna Gunther and canvassed neighborhoods for Native families. Aquino later brought the "Teepee Talk" column to radio, with a weekly program for Native American issues airing in the late 1970s on KRAB-FM (now KSER). She was also a broadcaster with the television station Native Vision. The occupation ultimately led to the city of Seattle agreeing to lease 20 acres of the Fort Lawton property to the United Indians of All Tribes. The Daybreak Star Cultural Center was established in Discovery Park in 1977.

Aquino died in 1988. She is buried at Gethsemane in Federal Way on the same property where she attended boarding school.

Personal life Aquino married Clarence Owen Ringer, an emigrant from England. They had three children before he died in 1937. She married Guellina "George" Rosario Aquino, an emigrant from the Philippines in 1944. She had six children of her own and fostered many children of color.