Allison Herrera
Allison Herrera covered Indigenous Affairs for KOSU from April 2020 to November 2023.
Herrera is a radio and print journalist who has worked for PRX's The World, Colorado Public Radio as the climate and environment editor and as a freelance reporter for High Country News’ Indigenous Affairs desk.
While at The World, she covered gender and equity for a reporting project called “Across Women’s Lives,” which focused on women’s rights around the globe. This project took her to Ukraine, where Herrera showcased the country’s global surrogacy industry, and reported on families who were desperate to escape the ongoing civil war that they moved to abandoned towns near the Chernobyl nuclear disaster site. In 2019, she received a fellowship from the International Women in Media Fund to report on the issue of reproductive rights in Argentina, a country scarred by the effects of the Dirty War and a legacy of sexual and physical abuse directed towards women.
In 2015 and 2016, Herrera co-created and produced the Localore project “Invisible Nations” with KOSU. The project included video, radio and live events centered on telling better stories about Native American life in Oklahoma. Invisible Nations received several awards from the Associated Press and the Society of Professional Journalists.
In 2017, she and her colleague Ziva Branstetter received an Emmy Award nomination for their Reveal story “Does the Time Fit the Crime,” which centered on criminal justice in Oklahoma.
In 2019, Herrera’s story for High Country News and Center for Public Integrity titled When Disaster Strikes, Indigenous Communities Receive Unequal Disaster Aid received a Scripps Howard nomination for best environmental reporting along with the One Disaster Away series.
Herrera’s Native ties are from her Xolon Salinan tribal heritage; her family’s traditional village was in the Toro Creek area of the Central California coast.
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Former Attorney General of the Cherokee Nation Sara Hill went before the Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington, D.C. this week to be interviewed for a federal judgeship.
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The Muscogee Nation is suing the City of Tulsa, accusing the city of unlawfully prosecuting tribal citizens despite the McGirt v. Oklahoma ruling.
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For decades, no matter where drivers with tribal tags lived in Oklahoma they’ve been good to register their vehicle with their tribal nation. That appears to be changing.
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A clarification for motorists: you cannot be pulled over randomly for having a tribal tag.
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You may have been wowed by the beautiful clothing Mollie and her sisters wore during a wedding scene in Killers of the Flower Moon. There’s a story behind the tradition of these beautiful coats.
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Chickasaw Governor Bill Anoatubby said Oklahomans have lost "institutional memory" on why and how the state compacts. Four tribal leaders spoke about the need for more cooperation moving forward in an interim study at the Capitol.
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The sisters will get a celebration in their honor this weekend at the Tulsa Historical Society.
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Until recently, Native representation in cinema and television has been abysmal. That's slowly changing. The new Martin Scorsese film Killers of the Flower Moon doesn't shy away from the harsh realities of the Osage murders it depicts. But it also does something else: celebrates Osage culture.
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The new Martin Scorsese film Killers of the Flower Moon doesn't shy away from the harsh realities of the Osage murders it depicts. But with input from the community, it also celebrates Osage culture.
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Killers of the Flower Moon is already generating Oscar buzz. But in Oklahoma, the story behind it is deeply personal. Jim Gray, the former principal chief of the Osage Nation, and his family met with KOSU’s Anna Pope to watch the film at the Circle Cinema in Tulsa for its public debut. The film is not only a story about the history of their community, but of the Gray family.