judge humetewa is the us district court judge for the district of arizona. your honor, thank you for this opportunity. you have many firsts in your career. the first native american woman to be united states attorney. and the first native american woman to be a federal judge. what does it feel like to make history? well, i frankly was really surprised to learn that i was the first native american female to be confirmed as a federal district court judge. it came as a big surprise to me, and frankly i didn't learn that until i was meeting with the white house staff. and i was also very surprised when i was told that i was the first us attorney native american woman to be appointed. what really warms my heart is when i received letters, or emails, postcards, from complete strangers throughout the united states who are still writing to congratulate me on this appointment. so this was not one of your goals when you were growing up, but what did you think you'd be doing? i had a variety of different goals. i was interested in being a teacher and in fact worked at

ernie stevens: and we meet the honorable diane humetewa, united states district court judges for the district of arizona. rita aspinwall: we also hear from our elders on this edition of "native report." narrator: production of "native report" is made possible by grants from the shakopee mdewakanton sioux community, the blandin foundation, and the duluth superior area community foundation. [music playing]