02/17/2025
ACKNOWLEDGING the Tradition of NATIVE WOMEN LACROSSE PLAYERS in the East during :
Lacrosse (also referred to as stickball, racket, "Little Brother of War," or "They Bump Hips," etc.) is commonly thought of as a Native men's sport, and indeed, it was overwhelmingly men who played, yet not exclusively in every community. Though not nearly as numerous, female lacrosse players are historically accounted for too, whether participating in regular play (women joining the men), in lighter social games (such as male vs female teams), in female-player only games, or in just informal play or practice (not a match). In some cases women could have played more usually, while in others, women may have played only on selected occasions.
In at least one Wabanaki tradition (Passamaquoddy), lacrosse was treated as a women's sport too, played by female players usually without men in attendance (W.W. Brown, 1889). Choctaw women too were noted to have played the kabocca (stickball) game “among themselves (after the men have done) disputing with as much eagerness as the men…” (Capt. B. Romans, 1776). Wendat/Huron women and girls were noted to play lacrosse (N. Perrot, before 1718). Anishinaabe/Ojibwe women played baaga'adowewin ("the game of lacrosse") armed with their rackets aside their fellow male teammates (C. Copway, 1851), while another Eastern community in Indian Territory didn't require female players to use the rackets like their male teammates, instead throwing and catching the ball with their hands (maybe Sauk & Fox/Meskwaki? or Shawnee?, Dr. W. Jones, before 1902).
Indeed some lacrosse games could be very social in nature, pinning teams of women against teams of men. And in the case of social games, the game wasn't as violent as it was usually played. However for those competitive games female players participated in, whether with men or not, all players were expected to do what was necessary to gain control of the ball. Lacrosse was (and still is) a contact sport in which players could be seriously injured - both teams doing all they could to hit their respective goals (unlike mainstream lacrosse today, many tribes used poles or hard targets, not nets, that needed to be struck with the ball to score a goal). In these contexts women lacrosse players were not unlike men lacrosse players, or other Native sportswomen competing in shinny, doubleball, races and the like (see our previous post)... Exhibiting prowess in sports - speed, strength, skill - was an acceptable and welcomed trait of the feminine sphere in these Indigenous societies.
Lacrosse remains a semi-continuing tradition for Native female players today, despite decades of Indigenous women being discouraged by both external and internal pressures... the history cited here either unknown or worse, purposely suppressed. However today some Indigenous cultural leaders from Western Great Lakes communities are encouraging their girls to play baaga'adowewin (the game of lacrosse). And Southeastern Nations host female stickball games where tribal teams play each other, including teams like the Chickasha Toli Ihoo (Chickasaw) and the Tvshka Homma Ohoyo (Choctaw). Not to mention the hundreds of Indigenous girls and women who play, and have played for high school and college lacrosse teams in the last several decades.
And where it appears there is no tradition/evidence of historical female lacrosse play, it doesn’t mean the story ends there, like with the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois)... Lacrosse play gained momentum in the 1970’s among young Haudenosaunee women attending non-tribal high schools, and in 1984 the creation of a Haudenosaunee women’s team was first attempted. However it was controversial. While the Haudenosaunee “holds the sport as a critical element of their identity,” it’s also considered a highly gendered tradition. “From a Haudenosaunee perspective lacrosse is ceremony,” and in ceremony, genders are responsible for and carry out very specific roles. Conservative-traditionalist concerns led to the women’s team disbandment only a few years after its start (1). However many Haudenosaunee women and girls continued to play the game, only not on a team endorsed by their Nation… not until almost two decades later when the team was reestablished. In 2024, the Haudenosaunee Nationals Women’s Lacrosse Team won the bronze medal in the World Lacrosse Box Championship.
Indeed for some, female stickball has been a point of contention… an issue sometimes caught between tradition and the needs, wants, and health (mental and physical) of community members in present times. Lacrosse brings opportunities to all its players (travel, possible scholarships, lifelong friendships, etc.), but it may mean more to Native players, and do something more for female players. Now revived, or for the first time claimed among Native female players, lacrosse today helps to heal and empower Indigenous girls and women as they navigate racial and sexual violence in a modern world (2).
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(1) Quotes from “Engendering Nationality: Haudenosaunee Tradition, Sport, and Lines of Gender.” by Allen Downey, 2012.
(2) See "A decade ago, these girls weren't allowed to play lacrosse. Now they inspire a reservation." by Roman Stubbs, 2019.
Image: Woman from "Abenaki couple" (the Abenaki are part of the greater Wabanaki Peoples), early 18th century.
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