From 1967 to 1974, she was a full-time activist living in various parts of the United States, traveling to
Europe,
Mexico, and
Cuba. She was also involved in the
women's liberation movement.
Outlaw Woman: Memoir of the War Years outlines this time of her life, chronicling the years 1960–1975. In 1968 she founded
Cell 16, which was a feminist organization in the United States known for its program of
celibacy, separation from men, and self-defense training (specifically
karate); it has been cited as the first organization to advance the concept of
separatist feminism. She contributed the piece "Female Liberation as the Basis for Social Revolution" to the 1970 anthology ''
Sisterhood is Powerful: An Anthology of Writings From The Women's Liberation Movement,'' edited by
Robin Morgan. In 1974, she accepted a position as assistant professor in the newly established
Native American Studies program at
California State University at Hayward, where she helped develop the departments of
Ethnic Studies and
Women's Studies. In the wake of the
Wounded Knee Siege of 1973, she became active in the
American Indian Movement (AIM) and the
International Indian Treaty Council, beginning a lifelong commitment to
Indigenous peoples' right to
self-determination and to
international human rights. She edited the book
The Great Sioux Nation, which was published in 1977 and presented as the fundamental document at
the first international conference on Indians of the Americas, held at United Nations' headquarters in
Geneva, Switzerland. The book was issued in a new edition by
University of Nebraska Press in 2013.
The Great Sioux Nation was followed by two other books:
Roots of Resistance: A History of Land Tenure in New Mexico (1980) and
Indians of the Americas: Human Rights and Self-Determination (1984). She also edited two anthologies on Native American economic development while heading the Institute for Native American Development at the
University of New Mexico. In 1981, Dunbar-Ortiz was asked to visit
Sandinista Nicaragua to appraise the
land tenure situation of the Mosquitian people in
Mosquitia. Her two trips there that year coincided with the beginning of United States government's sponsorship of a
proxy war to overthrow the
Sandinistas, with the northeastern region on the border with
Honduras becoming a war zone and the basis for extensive propaganda carried out by the Reagan administration against the Sandinistas. In over a hundred trips to Nicaragua and Honduras from 1981 to 1989, she monitored what was called the Contra War. She tells of these years in
Caught in the Crossfire: The Miskitu Indians of Nicaragua (1985) and
Blood on the Border: A Memoir of the Contra War (2005). In her work ''
An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States'', Dunbar-Ortiz condemns the
Discovery Doctrine and the
settler colonialism that devastated Native American populations in the United States. She compares this form of religious bigotry to the modern-day conquests of al-Qaeda. She states that, since much of the current land within the United States was taken by aggression and oppression, "Native peoples have vast claims to reparations and restitution," yet "[n]o monetary amount can compensate for lands illegally seized, particularly those sacred lands necessary for Indigenous peoples to regain social coherence." She is Professor
Emerita of Ethnic Studies at
California State University, Hayward. Since retiring from university teaching, she has been lecturing widely and continues to write. == Awards ==