American Indian and Alaska Native persons have been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic facing three times the likelihood of infection and death than white counterparts. Because they represent a small percentage of the national population, they face existential threat and remain invisible to the public at large. This session illuminates the experience of a seminal sector understudied and often abandoned. Presenters Noreen Goldman, Professor of Demography & Public Affairs, Princeton University C. Matthew Snipp, Professor of Humanities & Sciences, Stanford University Beth Redbird, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Northwestern University Moderator Elizabeth Ellis, Assistant Professor of History, Princeton University Respondent Winona LaDuke, is a Harvard-educated economist, environmental activist, author, hemp farmer, grandmother, and a two-time former Green Party Vice President candidate with Ralph Nader. LaDuke specializes in rural development, economic, food, and energy sovereignty and environmental justice. Living and working on the White Earth reservation in northern Minnesota, she leads several organizations including Honor the Earth (co-founded with The Indigo Girls 28 years ago), Anishinaabe Agriculture Institute, Akiing, and Winona’s Hemp.