Compassionate Woman is the biography of a woman of Lakota and Chippewa heritage who was the winner of a MacArthur Foundation fellowship in 1991 for her work to save tribal languages that were becoming extinct throughout the United States.

This fascinating biography of Patricia Locke, who was given the name Compassionate Woman, gives us a glimpse into the life of someone dedicated to restoring justice and helping those in need. Her life of service began in Anchorage, Alaska, when she founded a community centre aimed at assisting Native Americans, Eskimos, and Aleuts - who had moved to the city from villages - to cope with some of the problems they encountered. She then went on to work for the Western Interstate Counsel for Higher Education, where she focused much of her energy on establishing colleges on reservations. She was particularly concerned with improving education for American Indians and worked hard toward advancing education on reservations so that Native American culture and language could be woven into the curriculum. She also spent many years as a freelance writer, instructor at various universities, and activist on behalf of the poor and oppressed.

In addition to the MacArthur Fellowship, Locke was the first American Indian to serve as a senior officer on the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States, and she was posthumously inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.