Wikipedia

Melinda Micco

Melinda Beth Coker Micco (December 21, 1947 – December 5, 2021) was an American filmmaker, scholar, activist, and educator. She was a professor of ethnic studies at Mills College, and the first Native American woman to earn tenure at Mills.

Melinda Micco
Born
Melinda Beth Coker

December 21, 1947
Richmond, California
DiedDecember 5, 2021 (aged 73)
Oakland, California
Occupation(s)College professor, filmmaker, scholar, activist

Early life

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Melinda Beth Coker was born in Richmond, California, one of the four daughters of Harry Coker and Frankie Wilson Coker. She had Seminole, Choctaw, and Creek (Muscogee) family origins,[1] and was a registered member of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma.[2] She graduated from Aragon High School in San Mateo, California in 1966. Later, as a single mother in her forties, she earned a BA in 1990, an MA in 1992, and a PhD in ethnic studies in 1995, all from the University of California at Berkeley. Her dissertation was titled "Freedmen and Seminoles: Forging a Seminole Nation".[3][4]

Career

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Micco joined the faculty of Mills College in 1993, and became chair of the Ethnic Studies department in 1994. Also in 1994, she was the first Native American woman to earn tenure at Mills College. She taught ethnic studies courses at Mills,[5] and spoke on Native American identity issues nationally.[6][7] She retired from Mills College in 2018.[8][9]

In 2018 Micco spoke at the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco.[10] In 2019 she spoke at a Berkeley rally against immigrant detention centers.[11] She was founder of the Brave Hearted Women Conference,[2] and one of the founders of Idle No More SF Bay, an environmental justice project led by indigenous women elders.[12][13][14] She was also active in the Intertribal Friendship House in Oakland, California.[15]

Micco produced the documentaries Killing the 7th Generation: Reproductive Abuses against Indigenous Women, with Diné Navajo educator Esther Lucero, and Every Step A Prayer: Refinery Corridor Healing Walks, with Chihiro Wimbush. She appeared in the Canadian documentary Reel Injun (2006), on film depictions of Native Americans.[16]

Publications

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  • "African Americans and American Indians" (encyclopedia entry, 1996)[17]
  • "Tribal Re-Creations: Buffalo Child Long Lance and Black Seminole Narratives" (chapter, 2000)[18]
  • "Seminoles and Black Seminoles in Contemporary Tribal Politics" (symposium contribution, 2000)[19]
  • “Blood and Money: The Case of Seminole Freedmen and Seminole Indians in Oklahoma” (chapter, 2006)[20][21]
  • Pretending to be Me: Ethnic Transvestism and Cross-Writing (edited collection, with Joe Lockhard)

Personal life

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Micco married and divorced, and had two children. She died in 2021, in Oakland, California, at age 72.[2][21]

References

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  1. ^ "Past Exhibitions: Melinda Micco". Art Space Gallery, Fresno City College. Retrieved 2022-01-06.
  2. ^ a b c Micco, Megan (2021-12-23). "Remembering Melinda Micco, first Native woman tenured at Mills College". Berkeleyside. Retrieved 2022-01-06.
  3. ^ "Graduate Student Alumni: Melinda Micco". The Department of Ethnic Studies, UC Berkeley. Retrieved 2022-01-06.
  4. ^ "Published Resources on Freedmen". Oklahoma Historical Society. Retrieved 2022-01-07.
  5. ^ "Mixed Race Studies » Melinda Micco". Mills College, Ethnic Studies Department. Retrieved 2022-01-06.
  6. ^ "Symposium to address Native American identity". The Anniston Star. 2000-02-03. p. 27. Retrieved 2022-01-07 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Freedmen band conference setat OKC campus". The Daily Oklahoman. 2015-03-25. p. 47. Retrieved 2022-01-07 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Faculty Emeriti". Mills College. Retrieved 2022-01-06.
  9. ^ Storrs, Calli (November 29, 2018). "Indigenous Women's Alliance hosts Native American History Month events". UWIRE – via Gale Academic OneFile.
  10. ^ Tedford, Matthew Harrison (February 2020). ""An Unfinished Occupation": Commemorating the Occupation of Alcatraz". Creative Ecologies, University of California, Santa Cruz. Retrieved 2022-01-07.
  11. ^ "Hundreds gather in Berkeley for rally against immigration detention centers". UWIRE. July 15, 2019 – via Gale Academic OneFile.
  12. ^ "Refinery Corridor Healing Walks 2017". Retrieved 2022-01-07.
  13. ^ "Indigenous activists draws San Francisco's attention to environmental woes". Xinhua News Agency. November 7, 2019.
  14. ^ Bacher, Dan (December 25, 2018). "Jennifer Siebel Newsom Sings with Idle No More SF Bay Carolers". Daily Kos. Retrieved 2022-01-07.
  15. ^ "IFH Community History Class" (PDF). Intertribal Friendship House Newsletter: 2. Summer 2011.
  16. ^ Farris, Phoebe (March 2011). "Hollywood, Oscars, and Reel Injuns". Cultural Survival Quarterly Magazine. Retrieved 2022-01-07.
  17. ^ Encyclopedia of North American Indians. Frederick E. Hoxie. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. 1996. ISBN 978-0-395-66921-1. OCLC 34669430.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  18. ^ Micco, Melinda (2000). ""Tribal Re-Creations: Buffalo Child Long Lance and Black Seminole Narratives"". In Hsu, Ruth; Franklin, Cynthia G.; Kosanke, Suzanne (eds.). Re-placing America: conversations and contestations: selected essays. Honolulu: College of Languages, Linguistics and Literature, University of Hawai'i and the East-West Center. ISBN 978-0-8248-2364-1.
  19. ^ Micco, Melinda. "Seminoles and Black Seminoles in Contemporary Tribal Politics." In Eating Out of the Same Pot: Relating Black and Native Histories" A Cross-cultural Symposium at Dartmouth College April, pp. 20-22. 2000.
  20. ^ Micco, Melinda (2006). "Blood and Money: The Case of Seminole Freedmen and Seminole Indians in Oklahoma". Crossing waters, crossing worlds : the African diaspora in Indian country. Tiya Miles, Sharon Patricia Holland. Durham: Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-8840-1. OCLC 607774236.
  21. ^ a b "In Memoriam: Melinda Micco, 1947-2021". Women In Academia Report. 2021-12-29. Retrieved 2022-01-06.
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