Chipeta [1843 - 1924]

Individual, Chipeta

About

Chipeta (1843–1924) was a Ute woman known for her intelligence, judgment, empathy, bravery, and quiet strength, all of which made her the only woman of her time allowed on the Ute council. She was also the wife of Ouray, whom the United States recognized as the de facto Ute leader in the late nineteenth century. This meant that, like her husband, she was caught in the middle of two colliding worlds. As an influential indigenous person during the period when Colorado was incorporated into the United States, her commitment to peace helped shape the state, even as it resulted in the removal of her people from their ancestral homelands.

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