News & Views of Phillips Since 1976
Monday December 22nd 2025
AIM Co-founder Eddie Benton-Banai Remembered for His Contributions to Native Culture
By LEVI RICKERT
Reprinted with permission by www.nativenewsonline.net
HAYWARD, Wis. ”” Native communities in the Great Lake region are mourning the loss of Eddie Benton-Banai (Bawdwaywidun Banaise), a co-founder of the American Indian Movement (AIM), who passed away on Monday, Nov. 30, in Hayward, Wis. He was 89.
Benton-Banai will be remembered for his vast contributions to the resurgence of Anishinaabe culture throughout the Great Lakes region where he was a grand chief, or spiritual leader, of the Three Fires Midewiwin Lodge. Beyond his role as a spiritual leader, Benton-Banai was an educator and author, who sought to preserve Native culture and spirituality.
“There are people who inspire us, who help us reach the spaces where we are able to be our best selves, who strengthen us to protect what our ancestors wanted for us. There are those who carry these teachings and wisdom and accept the responsibility. They are our teachers, our healers, our inspirations, and one of the greatest has walked on. Bawdwaywidun Banaise was one who accepted the responsibility of teaching and guiding the people,” Shannon Martin (Gun Lake Potawatomi, Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe), director of Ziibiwing Center of Anishinaabe Culture and Lifeways in Mt. Pleasant, Mich., said to Native News Online.… Read the rest “AIM Co-founder Eddie Benton-Banai Remembered for His Contributions to Native Culture”
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