Remembering Dr. Bettie Kay McGowan

JOHN HARTIG

On October 4, 2022, Dr. Bettie Kay McGowan passed away at the age of 79 after an amazing life of advocacy for human rights, academic scholarship, and generosity and kindness to all.

Kay and her twin sister –Fay Givens – were born in Ripley, Mississippi in 1942 to Francis Jewell Lockhart and Herman H. Givens. The family, including the twins’ older sister Mary Murphy, moved north to Detroit in her childhood.

Kay was an American Indian of Choctaw/Cherokee heritage and a social activist her entire life.

Early in her career she worked as a lobbyist for the poor, helped found the Michigan Citizens Lobby which successfully repealed the sales tax on groceries and medicine in Michigan, helped pass generic drug and auto repair legislation, helped establish the Friend of the Court Reform Act, and championed other pivotal initiatives. She cofounded First Step in 1981, a domestic violence shelter in southeast Michigan, and tirelessly advocated for the underrepresented.

While raising five children, Kay obtained her doctorate in anthropology from Wayne State University in 1994. She later taught courses in anthropology, native studies, and women’s studies at the University of Toledo, Wayne State University, Eastern Michigan University, and Marygrove College for two decades.

In 1995, Kay was a delegate to the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China.

In the late 1990s, Kay and her sister Fay were involved in the Downriver fight to save Humbug Marsh – the last mile of natural shoreline on the U.S. mainland of the Detroit River.

They provided a critical Native voice on how the First Peoples long recognized Humbug Marsh as sacred grounds and called on all to protect these lands and waters where Council Ring ceremonies were held.

She then wrote a “Native American History of the International Wildlife Refuge” in 2004 to help guide future education, outreach, and stewardship efforts of the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge.

Kay also served as vice-chair of the National Indian Youth Council in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Kay and her sister Fay represented American Indians at the United Nations over a 10-year span, resulting in a United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Their advocacy work focused, in part, on water as a human right. In 2008, Kay addressed the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

Clearly, Kay and Fay made an impact on a national and international level.

In 2010, Kay and Fay –longtime director of American Indian Services in Lincoln Park, Michigan – produced a documentary film titled Indian School: A Survivor’s Story that detailed some of the many cases of abuse in American Indian Boarding Schools in the United States. This documentary arose from a talking circle of survivors at American Indian Services.

Kay was also an accomplished writer who loved to share her knowledge.

For example, she contributed a chapter on Native Americans and the river to a book titled Honoring Our Detroit River,

Caring for Our Home (2003), contributed an essay to the book Make a Beautiful Way: The Wisdom of Native American Women (2008), and most recently contributed a chapter on First Peoples of the river to the book titled Rouge River Revived: How People are Bringing Their River Back to Life (2022).

Kay received numerous awards, including being inducted into the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame in 2009. She is survived by her children, Thomas Campbell (Ronda), Patrick Campbell (Dawn), Katie McGowan (Goran), Dan McGowan (Anne), and Michael McGowan (Andrea), her grandchildren, Steve, Leo, Mary, Owen, Liam, Nika, and Bruce, and her sisters, nieces, and nephews. Kay’s love, kindness, and generosity will live on in her family and all who were privileged to work with her and call her a friend.