Born in Whakapara and descended from Ngāpuhi chiefs, Harawira was an outspoken political commentator and a civil rights campaigner beginning with her involvement with activist group Ngā Tamatoa in the 1970s.

She became a nationally recognised figure due in part to her role escorting New Zealand prime ministers onto the marae (meeting place) during annual Waitangi Day celebrations.

[2] Harawira and her husband were founding members of Hoani Waititi Marae and she was active in the Māori Women's Welfare League.

[13] In 1975 following the retirement of Hugh Watt, she was one of twenty-seven candidates who sought Labour Party selection for the Onehunga electorate, but lost to Frank Rogers.

[5][16] She also criticised then prime minister Robert Muldoon and his National party government for what she described as their "racist attitudes", particularly towards young Māori.

[20] In the late 1980s, she established the Whare Paia mental health unit for Māori at Carrington Hospital;[4] in 1989, she was jailed for nine months for assaulting a patient, with four other staff members also convicted, including her daughter and son.

[12] In 1998 Harawira publicly objected to Helen Clark, then the leader of the opposition party, speaking on the marae during the pōwhiri (welcoming ceremony).

In May that year, Harawira wrote to Clark apologising for the hurt caused, but noting that she would be "watching what your government does with guarded expectation".

[3] In 2013, Te Tii marae's board nominated a different woman to escort prime minister John Key, suggesting that Harawira had "had her turn".

[33][34] When the Māori Party was formed in 2004 she considered standing as a candidate for the Te Tai Tokerau electorate, but her son Hone Harawira stood instead.

[5] News website Stuff suggested that prime minister John Key had "targeted" Harawira's style of activism in his annual speech on Waitangi Day in 2013, by referring to "headline-seekers" who distract from the real issues facing Māori.

There will be a lot of Kiwis who didn't agree with Titewhai Harawira, but no one could doubt her passion and her sincerity and her commitment to Māori.