Eileen Hudon and Women’s Advocates

Fall 1974, Eileen Hudon went to Women’s Advocates because she needed to escape an abusive husband. But her encounter with the domestic violence shelter, the first in the nation, also opened the door to her life’s calling as an advocate for survivors, particular Native women, of domestic violence and sexual assault.

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Editor: Britt Aamodt

Producer: Britt Aamodt

Editorial support: Emily Krumberger

Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood

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Transcript

Welcome to MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds.

Fall 1974, Eileen Hudon was about 27 years old, a member of the White Earth Nation, the mother of four and the wife of a domestic abuser. That’s why she’d had to flee her Twin Cities home with her kids and little else.

In the early 1970s, domestic violence was considered a private matter, something you didn’t talk about. That also meant there was little in the way of a support network for women like Eileen. But just two weeks before, a home on St. Paul’s Grand Avenue had opened its doors. Women’s Advocates was the first domestic abuse shelter in the nation. It was full up but the staff found room for Eileen and her kids in the corner of the dining room.

It was not just a safe zone but a space for her to talk with other survivors and to think about her future. Eileen Hudon would spend the next decades devoting herself to helping women, particularly Native women, impacted by domestic violence and sexual assault, through advocacy, training and helping establish organizations like Mending the Sacred Hoop and Minnesota Indian Women's Sexual Assault Coalition.

MN90 is produced by AMPERS, diverse radio for Minnesota's communities, made possible by funding from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. Online at MN90.org.