Women's History Month: Isabella Aiukli Cornell

Isabella Aiukli Cornell is a young woman who deserves recognition for her activism for Native Women! Isabella is a member of the Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma, and in 2018 she made headlines for using her school’s prom as an opportunity to raise awareness for missing and murdered Indigenous women across the country.

Across the country, Indigenous women and girls who have been kidnapped, killed, or victims of violence have not found justice for the crimes against them due to authorities and law enforcement failing to respond or take action on behalf of those communities. Isabella has been an advocate for Native American women for years as an active organizing member of Matriarch, an Inter-Tribal non-profit based in Oklahoma created to provide a safe space for women of the Choctaw, Cherokee, and Chickasaw nations, as well as several others who have experienced domestic abuse and violence.

In response to the growing epidemic of violence against Indigenous women, and law enforcement’s failure to provide justice for these women, she decided to use her prom dress to call attention to the issue. She wore a red gown to pay homage to domestic abuse victims, with embellishments that reflected her Native Choctaw heritage to symbolize the Indigenous communities from which these women come from. Her dress garnered national attention, and her small display of activism finally spotlights the crisis of violence against Native women. Isabella’s efforts are immortalized in history for helping raise awareness for the epidemic of abuse against Indigenous women.

Article by Regan Lenihan

References

• Vong, Sam. Isabella Aiukli makes prom political. Washington D.C: National Museum of American History, Nov. 24, 2020. https://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/prom-political 

Isabella Aiukli Cornell wearing her prom dress. Photo by Doug Hoke.

This dress, with a matching necklace and ruby red high heels, was worn by Cornell to her prom in 2018.