Native American Volunteers with the American Red Cross

Two Indigenous women, of the Mono Tribe, pause from rolling bandages beneath a U.S. flag, their handmade Red Cross veils signaling wartime service. Thousands of Native American women raised funds, sewed medical supplies, and supported soldiers during World War I.

Their patriotism, however, did not translate into political power. When the 19th Amendment granted women the vote in 1920, most Native Americans were still classified as “wards” of the federal government and barred from the polls. Only with the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924—and, in some states, even later—could many of these same women begin to claim the suffrage long earned through service.