Phyllis Young, also known as Woman Who Stands by the Water, and Woman Who Loves the Water, is an American Indian (Lakota/Dakota) activist who has been active in her community for over 40 years. She played an important role in organizations like The American Indian Movement (AIM) and as a founding member of the Women of All Red Nations (WARN). Between 1993 and 2008 Young served on the board of the National Museum of the American Indian, and in 1977 she helped coordinate the first conference on Indians in the Americas by the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. She is most widely known for her leadership role in the anti-Dakota Access Pipeline struggle in 2016 and 2017.

Phyllis Young was born on February 24, 1949 on the Standing Rock Reservation, which lies on the border of North and South Dakota. The Standing Rock Indian Reservation is mainly controlled by the Sioux Nation, who were driven out of their homes due to westward expansion in the 1800's. Before being placed into the Standing Rock reservation, the Sioux resided to the east side of the Missouri River. In violation of the Fort Laramie Treaty, American soldiers marched into the Black Hills, sacred land to the Sioux Native Americans, the Sioux refused to leave or sell their land, leading to violence and battles between the Sioux and American Settlers. The conflict raged on for years but ultimately led to the surrender of the Native Americans and their placement into the Standing Rock reservation. With the goal of assimilating, the US government forced children into boarding schools in more urban areas of the country, like Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles, and Cleveland.

When Young was elementary age, she was put into Native American Urban Relocation, a program that attempted to assimilate Native Americans into mainstream American culture and society. Young witnessed culture stripping to an extreme degree in the Native American Urban Relocation program. Young took note of what the government was doing to her people and used it to motivate her in her work with the Women of All Red Nations and the American Indian Movement. Young lived in Los Angeles for a short time but eventually moved back to the Standing Rock reservation, where she started schooling. When Young was in third grade, she attended a boarding school called Fort Yates, a government school just north of the Standing Rock Reservation. The boarding schools, similarly to the Native American relocation program, forcibly assimilated Native American children into American society.

The assimilation of Native Americans began in 1819, when Congress passed the Civilization Fund Act. The act enforced the ”civilization process” that spanned over 100 years. This prompted the creation of Native American boarding schools. Approximately, 357 boarding schools were operated across 30 states across the country. These reservations housed around 60,000 American Indian children. Native American assimilation began in 1860 after on-reservation boarding schools were established. Attendance at these boarding schools was mandatory, regardless of parental consent. Once arriving at these boarding schools, Native American children were given Anglo-American names, military style clothes, and boys would be forced to shave their heads. These programs tended to use the young Native Americans for domestic and manual labor. Boarding schools proved to be a major part in the assimilation of Native Americans and Young' early life. Young was one of the few Native American children that strived to remain connected with her culture and people.

Phyllis Young grew up on the Standing Rock Reservation during the 1950’s. Her family's resources of food and water came along the Missouri River and what her family could grow in the fertile lands. When Young was 10 years old the US Army Corp of Engineers built the Oahe Dam. The Oahe Dam was built to control the water flow and generate electricity. The dam's construction began in 1948 and was finished August 3, 1958. The dam flooded her family's land, destroying her family's resources and home. The Cheyenne River Tribe would eventually file a lawsuit against the Army Corp after several instances of flooding, claiming that the floods were caused by the Oahe Dam. The Oceti Sakowin people, also known as Sioux were the people that resided in the lands near the Missouri River. The Oceti Sakowin, which also translates to The Seven Council Fires, are separate nations that followed the ideals and culture of the Sioux. The Seven Council Fires are Mdewakaton- Dwellers by the Sacred Land, the Wahpekute- Shooters among the leaves, Sistonwan/Sisseton- People of the Marsh, the Wahpetonwan- Dwellers among the Leaves, the Ihanktonwan/Lower Yanktonai, the Inhanktowna/upper Yanktonai- of the Little End, and the Tentonwan- People on the Plains.

The Seven Council Fires represent the beliefs of the three subset groups within the Sioux Nation: Lakota, Nakota and Dakota. The ideals and beliefs of the Sioux Nation hold that everything is connected, the earth to the stars, the sun and the moon, the animals to the people, and the people to the people. The Sioux nation also strongly believes in the preservation of languages, traditions and cultural practices to maintain the identity of the tribe. The Sioux culture also pertains to a strong idea of social responsibility, a duty to care for one another, especially the elderly and children. Recently, the priority of the Sioux have shifted into advocating for the rights of Indigenous people in the decades after forced assimilation and removal of indigenous peoples. Growing up in a Oceti Sakowin community, Young has engaged with traditions and values that have shaped her into the activist she is today. This cultural background has informed her advocacy efforts, particularly in areas related to Indigenous rights and environmental issues.

Phyllis Young's educational journey started when was in 3rd grade, when she attended a Catholic boarding school in Fort Yates, North Dakota. For Young, life as a student in these government-based, religious institutions was the same as it was for many other natives. She had to abide by the rules that were in place such as removal of all cultural norms and customs including her hair, her clothing, and her language, having to abide by the norms of the whites, and the laws under what is right and wrong. If she disobeyed one of the laws, she would be put under serious corporal punishment.

Young is a longtime member of the American Indian Movement. AIM was founded in 1968, inspired by similar anti-imperialist groups of the Sixties and Seventies, such as the Black Panthers. The American Indian Movement is perhaps best known for their 71-day occupation of the town of Wounded Knee, South Dakota. One year after Wounded Knee, in 1974, Young, along with Lorelei DeCora Means, Madonna Thunder Hawk, and Janet McCloud, founded the Women of All Red Nations, a partner organization to the American Indian Movement. WARN aimed to fill the gap in women’s leadership, and cement the role of women in the American Indian Movement.