Agnes Pilgrim, indigenous rights activist, dies

She traveled the world into her 80s to advocate

PORTLAND, Ore. — Agnes Baker Pilgrim, the oldest member of Oregon’s Takelma tribe and a vocal advocate for clean water and Native American rights, has died. She was 95.

Pilgrim, who was better known as “Grandma Aggie,” died Wednesday in Grants Pass as doctors tried to repair a brain aneurysm, Southern Oregon University, her alma mater, said. The university awarded Pilgrim a presidential medal — its highest honor — in August for her extensive work to preserve and protect Native American culture and clean water around the world.

Pilgrim, the granddaughter of a tribal chief, traveled the world well into her 80s advocating for environmental, animal and indigenous rights, including a trip to Rome to lobby Pope Benedict XVI to repeal a centuries-old Roman Catholic edict that many Native Americans say provided the legal justification for European encroachment on Native American land in what is now the United States. She also met with the Dali Lama.

Pilgrim also fought to bring forgotten tribal rituals back to her home community, including a sacred salmon ceremony that is now performed each year on the Applegate River in southern Oregon. She referred to her work as being a “voice for the voiceless.”

Pilgrim, a mother of six, said in an online essay that at age 45 she began to feel restless. Until then, she had varied careers, including as a race car driver, a boxer and a log truck driver, she said in a 2010 speech at the Earth and Spirit Council.

Pilgrim was the granddaughter of Jack Harney, the first elected chief of the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz, and was recognized as a “living treasure” by the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz. Her likeness is featured in a statue in downtown Ashland, Oregon.