Tonya Gonnella Frichner papers

Tonya Gonnella Frichner was born in Syracuse, New York, the daughter of Maxine and Henry Gonnella. A citizen of the Onondaga Nation (Snipe Clan), she has devoted her personal and professional life to ensuring human rights for Indigenous Peoples, both within North America and around the world. Frichner graduated from St. John's Catholic Academy, a high school in Syracuse. She earned a Bachelor of Science Degree, magna cum laude, from St. John's University in New York City in 1980 and her Juris Doctor from the City University of New York School of Law in 1987. Shortly after graduating from law school, Frichner served as a delegate for and was of legal counsel to the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy at the UN Sub-Commission on the Human Rights/Working Group on Indigenous Populations in Geneva, Switzerland. Also since 1987, she has sat on the Board of Directors and serves as legal counsel to the Iroquois Nationals Lacrosse Project, the national team of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. She sits on several other boards, including the Seventh Generation Fund for Indian Development and the Boarding School Healing Project.

In 1989 Frichner founded, and has served as President since then, of the American Indian Law Alliance, an Indigenous Peoples advocacy group based in New York City. The Alliance is a NGO with Consultative Status to the United Nations Social and Economic Council and Frichner has also served a three-year term (2008-2010) as the North American Representative to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. Simultaneously, she has taught Federal Indian Law, Human Rights Law and Native American History at several New York City-area colleges and universities, including City College, the City University of New York (1991-1999); Hunter College (1993); New York University (1994); and Manhattanville College (2000-2008). Tonya Gonnella Frichner resides in New Jersey with her husband, Herb Frichner, a businessman and Adjunct Associate Professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology. She has received numerous awards in recognition of her work, including the Harriet Tubman Humanitarian Achievement Award, the Female Role Model of the Year from the Ms. Foundation for Women, the Thunderbird Indian of the Year Award,the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, and the NY County Lawyers Association Award for Outstanding Public Service. She also received an honorary degree from Colby College in 2012. She died February 14, 2015.