List of Native American firsts facts for kids

Native American people were the first to live in the land we now call the United States. This list shares some of the amazing "firsts" achieved by Native Americans throughout history. It includes individuals and groups from different tribes, like American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians. These accomplishments show their important contributions to their own cultures and to the wider culture of the United States.

Early Native American Firsts

1530s

1539

• The Indigenous peoples of Florida first met with the Hernando de Soto Expedition. This was the first time many Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands met Spaniards and African people.

1580s

1581

• The Navajo people first met the Spanish.

1587

• The first recorded Protestant Christian baptism of a Native American happened. Manteo of the Croatan tribe was baptized.

1610s

1615

• Pocahontas of the Powhatan tribe was the first Native American to be welcomed as royalty by English royalty.
• The Huron people were the first to act as go-betweens for French traders and other Native American tribes.

1620s

1620

• Massaoit of the Wampanoag tribe was the first Native American in New England to meet with settlers and sign a peace treaty.

1630s

1638

• The first American Indian reservation was created for the Quinnipiac Nation.

1660s

1663

• The first published writing by a Native American in the Americas was Honoratissimi Benefactores by Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck (Wampanoag).
• The first Bible published in the Americas was The Eliot Indian Bible. It was printed in the Natick language. One of the translators, James Printer (Nipmuc), was the first Native American to use a printing press.

1665

• Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck (Wampanoag) was the first Native American to graduate from Harvard University.

1670s

1670

• Hiacoomes (Wampanoag) was the first Native American to become a Christian clergy member.

1672

• Native Americans were the first mail carriers between New York City and Albany.

Native American Firsts in the 18th Century

1760s

1765

• Samson Occom (Mohegan) was the first Native American recorded preaching Christianity to a non-Native audience.

1770s

1772

• The first published book by a Native American was A Sermon Preached at the Execution of Moses Paul, an Indian by Samson Occom (Mohegan).

1790s

1794

• The first published report by a Native American about other Native American peoples in English was A Short Narration of My Last Journey to the Western Country by Hendrick Aupaumut (Mohican).

Native American Firsts in the 19th Century

1810s

1812

• William McIntosh (Muscogee) was the first Native American to become a brigadier general in the United States Army.

1820s

1821

• The Cherokee syllabary was first adopted by the Cherokee Nation council. It was created by Sequoyah (Cherokee).

1822

• David Moniac (Muscogee) was the first Native American admitted to and to graduate from West Point.

1825

• David Cusick (Tuscarora) was the first Iroquois person to publish the oral histories of the Haudenosaunee. This was in his book Sketches of the Ancient History of the Six Nations.

1827

• The Cherokee Nation adopted its first modern constitution.

1828

• The first Native American newspaper and first newspaper in an Indigenous language was The Cherokee Phoenix. Buck Watie (Cherokee) was its first editor.

1829

• The first full-length autobiography by a Native American was A Son of the Forest by William Apess (Pequot).
• The first book published using the Cherokee syllabary was Cherokee Hymn Book. It was printed by Elias Boudinot (Cherokee).

1840s

1844

• Wa-o-wa-wa-na-onk (Cayuga) was the first known Native American to earn a Western medical degree.

1847

• The first full-length travelog by a Native American was The Life, History, and Travels of Kah-ge-ga-gah-bowh by George Copway (Ojibwe).

1850s

1854

• The first novel by a Native American was The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murietta by John Rollin Ridge (Cherokee).
• A Wreath of Cherokee Rose Buds was the first Native American student magazine.

1856

• Cyrus Harris (Chickasaw) was the first governor of the Chickasaw Nation after their new constitution.
• James Bouchard (Lenape) was the first Native American to become a Roman Catholic priest.

1857

• John Rollin Ridge (Cherokee) was the first Native American editor of a non-Native publication. He helped start The Sacramento Bee.

1860s

1861

• Louis "Deerfoot" Bennett (Seneca) was the first Native American professional track athlete.

1865

• Jesse Chisholm (Cherokee) was the first person to ride the Chisholm Trail.

1867

• Ely Samuel Parker (Seneca) was the first Native American to become a brigadier general in the U.S. Army.

1869

• Co-Rux-Te-Chod-Ish (Pawnee) was the first Native American to receive the Medal of Honor.
• Ely Samuel Parker (Seneca) was the first Native American to work as the Commissioner for Indian Affairs.

1870s

1870

• Hiram Rhodes Revels (Lumbee) was the first Native American elected as a United States Senator.

1875

• The Indian Progress was the first independent Cherokee-owned newspaper. It was owned by Elias C. Boudinot (Cherokee).

1878

• The Choctaw News was the first Choctaw tribal newspaper.

1879

• Standing Bear (Ponca) was the first Native American declared "a person within the meaning of the law" in the United States.

1880s

1881

• Francis La Flesche (Omaha) was the first Native American anthropologist.

1883

• Sarah Winnemucca (Northern Paiute) was the first Native American woman to publish a book, Life Among the Piutes: Their Wrongs and Claims.

1886

• The Progress was the first privately owned Chippewa magazine. It was started by Theodore H. Beaulieu and Gustave Beaulieu (Chippewa/Ojibwe).

1889

• Susan La Flesche (Omaha) was the first Native American woman to earn a Western medical degree.
• Susan Bordeaux, Ella Clark, Anna B. Pleets, and Josephine Two Bears (all Lakota) were the first documented Native American U.S. Army nurses.

1890s

1891

• Wynema: A Child of the Forest by Sophia Alice Callahan (Muscogee) was the first novel published by a Native American woman.

1892

• Charles Curtis (Kaw/Osage/Potawatomi) was the first Native American elected to the United States House of Representatives.
• Gowongo Mohawk (Seneca) was the first Native American playwright. He wrote Wep-Ton-No-Mah, The Indian Mail Carrier.

1893

• The Wah-sha-she was the first independent magazine published by and for the Osage people. It was started by George E. Tinker (Osage).
• Norma E. Standley Smiser (Choctaw) was the first Native American woman to publish and edit a newspaper.

1897

• Louis Sockalexis (Penobscot) was the first Native American to play on a major league baseball team.

1898

• John Milton Oskison (Cherokee) was the first Native American to graduate from Stanford University.

Native American Firsts in the 20th Century

1900s

1903

• The Tomahawk was the first tribal newspaper published by the White Earth Ojibwe.

1908

• The Quileute Independent was the first tribal newspaper published for the Quileute people. It was created by Webster Hudson (Quileute).
• Ikua Purdy, Archie Ka'au'a, and Jack Low (all Native Hawaiian paniolos) were the first to win at the Frontier Days rodeo.

1909

• James Young Deer (Nanticoke) was the first Native American film actor.
• Lyda Conley (Wyandot) was the first Native American lawyer to argue a case before the Supreme Court.

1910s

1910

• Henry Roe Cloud (Ho-Chunk) was the first Native American to graduate from Yale.

1911

• Jim Thorpe (Sac & Fox Nation) was the first Native American to play in the NFL.
• The Society of American Indians was the first US national Native American rights group managed by Native Americans for Native Americans.

1912

• Jim Thorpe (Sac & Fox Nation) was the first Native American to win gold medals for the United States in the Olympic Games.
• Lewis Tewanima (Hopi) was the first American to win an Olympic medal (silver) in the 10,000 meter run.

1913

• Joseph J. Clark (Cherokee) was the first Native American to attend the United States Naval Academy.
• Walter Harper (Athabascan) was the first person documented to reach the top of Denali.
• Albert Andrew Exendine (Delaware Tribe) was the first Native American head coach of a college sports team.

1916

• The first American Indian Day was celebrated in May 1916. The day was created by Red Fox James (Blackfeet Tribe).

1918

• The first known use of Indigenous Code Talkers in the U.S. military happened. Choctaw, Cherokee, and Navajo people were Code Talkers in World War I.

1920s

1921

• The Haskell unit of the Kansas National Guard was the first all-Native American National Guard.
• Bessie Coleman (Cherokee heritage) was the first Native American woman pilot.

1922

• Ruth Muskrat Bronson (Cherokee) was the first Native American student to attend a world conference.
• Alice Brown Davis (Seminole) was the first woman to serve as chief of the Seminole tribe.

1923

• Henry Chee Dodge (Navajo) was the first chair of the Navajo Tribal Council.

1924

• Thomas Henry Dodge (Navajo) was the first Navajo person to earn a law degree.
• Troop C, 114th Cavalry was the first all-Native American cavalry created in the United States.
• Clarence Able (Chippewa) was the first Native American to captain the United States Hockey Team.
• Cora Belle Reynolds Anderson (Chippewa) was the first Native American woman elected to a state legislature.
• William L. Paul (Tlingit) was the first Alaska Native elected to the Alaskan Territorial Legislature.
• Clarence "Taffy" Abel (Chippewa) was the first Native American to carry the United States flag at the Olympic Games opening ceremony.

1926

• Clarence "Taffy" Abel (Chippewa) was the first Native American in the NHL, playing for the New York Rangers.
• Jessie Elizabeth Randolph Moore (Chickasaw) was the first Native American woman to hold state office in Oklahoma.
• The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) was the first national reform group with only Native American members. It was founded by Zitkala-Sa (Yankton Dakota) and Raymond Bonnin (Yankton Dakota).

1927

• Susie Walking Bear Yellowtail (Crow) was the first Native American to earn a degree as a registered nurse.

1929

• Charles Curtis (Kaw/Osage/Potawatomi) was the first Native American to serve as Vice President of the United States.

1930s

1930

• The Sage Memorial Hospital School of Nursing was the first accredited nursing program for Native Americans.
• Mary Riddle (Clatsop/Quinault) was the first enrolled Native American woman to earn a pilot's license.

1932

• Dolly Smith Akers (Assiniboine) was the first Native American woman elected to the Montana State Legislature.
• Charles Curtis (Kaw/Osage/Potawatomi) was the first Native American to open the Olympic Games.

1935

• Roberta Campbell Lawson (Delaware Tribe) was the first Native American woman elected as president of the General Federation of Women's Clubs.

1939

• Chester L. Ellis (Seneca) was the first Native American to win national and international boxing championships.

1940s

1941

• James C. Ottipoby (Comanche) was the first Native American commissioned in the American Chaplain Corps.
• Mifauny Shunatona, Miss Oklahoma, was the first Native American Miss America contestant.

1942

• Clarence L. Tinker (Osage) was the first Native American to become a major general in the U.S. Air Force.
• Maria Tallchief (Osage) was the first American to dance with the Paris Opera and become a prima ballerina.
• Mary Golda Ross (Cherokee Nation) was the first Native American woman to work for Lockheed and likely the first Native American woman aeronautical engineer.
• Tom Oxendine (Lumbee) was the first Native American commissioned pilot in the United States Navy.

1943

• Adahooniligii was the first Navajo language newspaper.
• Kateri Tekakwitha (Mohawk) was the first Native American venerated as a saint by the Roman Catholic church.
• Minnie Spotted-Wolf (Blackfoot) was the first Native American woman to join the Marine Corps Women's Reserve.

1944

• Ernest Childers (Muscogee (Creek) Nation) was the first Muscogee person to earn the Medal of Honor.
• Van T. Barfoot (Mississippi Choctaw descent) was the first person of Choctaw descent to earn the Medal of Honor.
• Ola Mildred Rexroat (Oglala Lakota) was the first and only Native American WASP.

1945

• Jack Montgomery (Cherokee Nation) was the first Cherokee to earn the Medal of Honor.
• The Alaska Equal Rights Act of 1945 was the first anti-discrimination law passed in the United States. It ended segregation of Alaska Natives.

1946

• Josephine Gates Kelly (Standing Rock Sioux) was the first female elected Tribal Chair in the United States.

1949

• Fred Kabotie (Hopi) was the first Hopi to earn the Indian Achievement Award from the Indian Council Fire.

1950s

1950

• Bernard Anthony Hoehner (Standing Rock Sioux) was the first Native American veterinarian.

1952

• Herbert Kaili Pililaau (Native Hawaiian) was the first Hawaiian to receive the Medal of Honor.
• The National Hall of Fame for Famous American Indians was the first US Hall of Fame for Native Americans. It was founded in Anadarko, Oklahoma.

1953

• Arlene Wesley James (Yakama) was the first Indian Miss America.

1956

• George Blue Spruce (Laguna) was the first Native American to earn a Western dentistry degree.
• James W. Hampton (Chickasaw/Choctaw) was the first Native American oncologist.

1957

• Joseph R. Garry (Coeur d'Alene) was the first Native American elected to the Idaho State Legislature.
• KNDN-AM was the first radio station to mostly broadcast in the Navajo language.

1958

• Leo Johnson was the first Native American to graduate from the United States Air Force Academy.

1959

• Virginia S. Klinekole (Mescalero Apache) was the first woman president of the Mescalero Apache Tribe.

1960s

1960

• Francis Quam (Zuni) was the first Native American pharmacist.
• Nunny Waano-Gano (Karuk) was the first Native American to own an FTD floral shop.

1961

• Benjamin Reifel (Lakota) was the first Native American elected to the U.S. Congress from South Dakota.

1962

• The Tundra Times was the first Alaska Native newspaper. Howard Rock (Inupiaq) was its first editor.

1963

• Annie Dodge Wauneka (Navajo) was the first Native American to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

1964

• James D. Atcitty (Navajo) was the first Native American elected to the New Mexico House of Representatives.
• Benjamin Nighthorse Campbell (Northern Cheyenne) was the first Native American on the United States Olympic Judo Team.
• William Mervin "Billy" Mills (Oglala Lakota) was the first Native American to win an Olympic gold medal in the 10,000 meter run.
• Marigold Linton (Morongo Band of Mission Indians) was the first Native American to earn a doctorate in psychology.

1966

• Tom Lee (Navajo) was the first Native American elected as a New Mexico state senator.
• Lloyd Lynn House (Navajo/Oneida) was the first Native American elected to the Arizona House of Representatives.
• Arthur McDonald (Oglala Lakota) was the first Native American man to earn a doctorate in psychology.

1967

• Four Moons was the first ballet written specifically for Native American dancers. It was scored by Louis Ballard (Quapaw/Cherokee).
• Betty Mae Tiger Jumper (Seminole Tribe of Florida) was the first woman to chair the Seminole Tribe Council.

1969

• N. Scott Momaday (Kiowa) was the first Native American to receive a Pulitzer Prize.
• Henry Gatewood (Navajo) was the first Native American to become a public school district superintendent.
• Brantley Blue (Lumbee) was the first Native American to work as Indian Commissioner on the Indian Claims Commission.

1970s

1970

• WYRU-AM was the first broadcast license given to a Native American tribe (Choctaw).

1971

• The Kicking Horse Regional Manpower Center was the first Native American job corps center.
• Arthur Raymond (Dakota Sioux/Oglala) was the first Native American elected to the North Dakota state legislature.
• Fred Begay (Navajo) was the first Navajo to earn a doctorate in physics.

1972

• KTDB-FM was the first Native American owned and operated non-commercial radio station for Native American listeners.
• Angelita Rosal (Sioux) was the first Native American on the United States Women's Table Tennis National Team.
• Takamiyama Daigorō (Native Hawaiian) was the first non-Japanese sumo wrestler to win the top division championship.
• The first induction ceremony of the American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame took place.

1974

• Carl Huntington (Athabascan) was the first Alaska Native to win the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
• Redbone was the first Native American band to reach the top five on the Billboard Hot 100 with "Come and Get Your Love".

1975

• R. C. Gorman (Navajo) was the first artist chosen by the Museum of the American Indian for a series on modern Native American art.
• Frank Fools Crow (Lakota) was the first Native American follower of an Indigenous religion to give the prayer at the United States Senate.
• Jessica Rickert (Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation) was the first Native American woman dentist.
• Vera Brown Starr (Yavapai-Apache) was the first woman to chair the Yavapai-Apache Tribe.
• The Mescalero Apache Tribe opened the first tribally owned and built golf course.

1976

• The first American Indian Studies master's degree program was started by Charlotte Anne Wilson Heth (Cherokee).
• Veronica Velarde Tiller was the first Jicarilla Apache woman to earn a doctorate degree.
• The Navajo Radio Network was the first radio station broadcasting in the Navajo language and under Navajo control.
• Mildred Cleghorn (Fort Sill Apache) was the first chairperson of the Fort Sill Apache Tribe.
• Ted Mala (Inupiaq) was the first Alaska Native to become a physician.

1977

• The first Inuit Circumpolar Conference took place.

1978

• Joan Hill (Muscogee) was the first Native American artist to show her work in China.
• Juanita L. Learned (Cheyenne-Arapaho) was the first woman to serve as chair of the Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes.
• Catharine Gail Kincaid (Eastern Dakota descent) was the first person of Native American descent to earn a fellowship from the National Institute of Mental Health and the American Psychiatric Association.

1980s

1980

• LaDonna Harris (Comanche) was the first Native American woman nominated for Vice President of the United States by any political party.
• Ramona Sakiestewa (Hopi) was the first Native American woman to lead the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts (SWAIA).

1981

• Sandra L. Hinds was the first Native American woman to graduate from the United States Naval Academy.
• Rosella Hightower (Choctaw Nation) was the first American to direct the Paris Opera ballet.

1982

• Benjamin Nighthorse Campbell (Northern Cheyenne) was the first Native American elected to the Colorado House of Representatives.
• Dolores K. Smith (Cherokee) was the first Native American woman to graduate from the United States Air Force Academy.
• Everett R. Rhoades (Kiowa) was the first Native American director of Indian Health Services (IHS).
• The Warm Spring Indians in Oregon were the first tribe to open an electric plant.

1983

• Claudeen Bates Arthur (Navajo) was the first woman to work as attorney general for the Navajo Nation.
• Arlinda Locklear (Lumbee) was the first Native American woman to win a case before the Supreme Court of the United States.
• A Gathering of Spirit: A Collection by North American Women was the first collection of Native American women's art and literature. It was edited by Beth Brant (Mohawk).
• I'd Rather Be Powwowing, directed by Larry Littlebird (Kewa Pueblo), was the first television documentary produced by an all-Indigenous crew.
• Kathleen Annette (White Earth Ojibwe) was the first Minnesota Ojibwe Nation woman to become a Western medical doctor.

1984

• Elizabeth Anne Parent (Athabascan) was the first Alaska Native woman to earn a doctorate degree.
• Brigitte T. Wahwassuck was the first Native American woman to graduate from West Point.

1985

• Wilma Mankiller (Cherokee Nation) was the first woman to become a Cherokee Nation principal chief.
• Clifford Bahniptewa (Hopi) was the first Native American to receive the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for race relations.

1986

• Donald E. Pelotte (Abenaki) was the first Native American to become a Roman Catholic bishop.
• The military service of the Choctaw code talkers was publicly recognized for the first time.
• The first American Indian Week was celebrated from November 23–30.

1987

• Leslie Marmon Silko (Laguna Pueblo descent) was the first Native American to become a fellow of the MacArthur Foundation.
• Wilma Mankiller (Cherokee Nation) was the first Native American woman named Ms. magazine's Woman of the Year.
• The Porcupine Clinic, started by Loralei DeCora (Winnebago), was the first community-owned and operated clinic on an Indian reservation.
• Verna Williamson (Isleta Pueblo) was the first woman elected as governor of the Isleta Pueblo.
• Frances Owl-Smith (Cherokee) was the first woman in the Eastern Band of Cherokee to become a Western physician.

1988

• Twila Martin-Kehahbah (Chippewa-Cree) was the first woman elected as tribal chair of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa.
• Susan Veronica Karol (Tuscarora Indian Nation of Sanborn) was the first Tuscarora Indian woman to become a Western surgeon.

1989

• The first book of poetry in Navajo was published by Rex Lee Jim (Navajo).
• Hattie Kauffman (Nez Percé) was the first Native American news reporter on national television.
• Sharon M. Malotte (Shoshone) was the first Native American in Nevada to become a Western physician.

1990s

1990

• Jason Stevens (Navajo) was the first Native American to win in a World Chess Championship open.
• The first Native American Month was celebrated in November.

1991

• Wilson Hunter (Navajo) was the first Native American to receive the Freeman Tilden Award from the National Park Service.
• Larry Echo Hawk (Pawnee) was the first Native American state attorney general.

1993

• The first play-by-play of an NBA game in a Native language was broadcast in Navajo.

1994

• Robert D. Ecoffey (Oglala Lakota Nation) was the first Native American to work as U.S. Marshall in the Justice Department.
• Lori Arviso Alvord (Navajo) was the first Navajo woman board certified in surgery.
• Tammy Eagle Bull (Oglala Lakota Nation) was the first Native American woman to be licensed as an architect in the United States.

1995

• Don Montileaux's (Lakota) painting was the first Native American artwork to travel in space, on board the Endeavor.
• Joyce Dugan (Cherokee) was the first woman to serve as principal chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
• Ryneldi Becenti (Navajo) was the first Native American woman to play professional basketball for a foreign nation.

1996

• Lynda Morgan Lovejoy (Navajo) was the first Native American woman elected to the New Mexico House of Representatives.
• Cheri Madsen (Omaha) was the first Native American participant in the Paralympics.

1997

• Sally Ann Gonzales (Yaqui) and Debora Norris (Navajo) were the first Native American women elected to the Arizona House of Representatives.
• Linda Burhansstipanov (Cherokee) was the first Native American to receive the Award for Excellence from the American Public Health Association.
• Charles J. Chaput (Prairie Band Potawatomi) was the first Native American Roman Catholic archbishop.

1998

• The Native American Music Awards (NAMA) were the first national awards for Native American music.
• 'Ōiwi: A Native Hawaiian Journal, founded by D. Mahealani Dudoit (Native Hawaiian), was the first literary and artistic journal for Native Hawaiians.

1999

• Jennifer Denetdale (Navajo) was the first Navajo to earn a doctorate in history.

Native American Firsts in the 21st Century

2000s

2000

• Michael E. Bird (Kewa Pueblo/Ohkay Owingeh) was the first Native American president of the American Public Health Association.
• Patricia Nez Henderson (Navajo) was the first Native American woman to graduate from Yale University School of Medicine.

2001

• Brian Ching (Native Hawaiian) was the first Native Hawaiian drafted by Major League Soccer.
• Cory Witherill (Navajo) was the first Native American to compete in the Indy 500.

2002

• John Herrington (Chickasaw Nation) was the first Native American in space.
• Naomi Lang (Karuk) was the first Native American woman to compete in the Winter Olympics.

2003

• The Mohegan Tribe was the first tribe to purchase a professional sports team, the Connecticut Sun.
• Lori Piestewa (Hopi) was the first Native American woman killed in combat fighting for the United States in a war in Asia.

2004

• Cecelia Fire Thunder (Oglala Lakota) was the first woman to serve as president of the tribal council for the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
• Erma Vizenor (Ojibwe) was the first woman tribal chair of the White Earth Ojibwe.
• The National Museum of the American Indian was the first Native American museum established on the National Mall.

2005

• The Yakima Nation was the first tribe to purchase a professional men's basketball team, the Yakima SunKings.

2006

• Glenna Wallace (Shawnee) was the first woman to serve as chief of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma.
• The first awards were announced in the American Indian Youth Literature Awards.

2007

• Loriene Roy (White Earth Ojibwe) was the first Native American president of the American Library Association.

2008

• Denise Juneau (Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation) was the first Native American woman elected to a statewide executive office.
• Sam Bradford (Cherokee Nation) was the first Native American to win the Heisman Trophy.

2010s

2010

• Paula Pechonick (Delaware) was the first woman to become a chief of the Delaware Tribe of Indians.
• Linda Hogan (Chickasaw) was the first Native American nominated for the United States Poet Laureate.

2011

• Tahnee Robinson (Northern Cheyenne) was the first Native American drafted into the WNBA.
• Phyliss J. Anderson (Choctaw) was the first woman chief of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.

2014

• Keith Harper (Cherokee Nation) was the first Native American named a United States Ambassador to the United Nations.
• Diane Humetewa (Hopi) was the first Native American woman to become a federal judge in the United States.

2015

• Faith Spotted Eagle (Yankton Sioux Tribe) was the first Native American to receive an electoral vote for President of the United States.
• Winona LaDuke (White Earth Ojibwe) was the first Native American woman to receive an electoral vote for Vice President of the United States.

2017

• Affie Ellis (Navajo) was the first Native-American to serve in the Wyoming State Senate.

2018

• Sharice Davids (Ho-Chunk) and Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo) were the first Native American women elected to the United States Congress.
• Tobi Merrit Edwards Young (Chickasaw Nation) was the first Native American to serve as a law clerk for the Supreme Court of the United States.

2019

• Wes Studi (Cherokee Nation) was the first Native American to earn an honorary award from the Academy Awards.
• Joy Harjo (Mvskoke/Cherokee) was the first Native American United States Poet Laureate.
• Kimberly Teehee (Cherokee Nation) was the first delegate to the United States House of Representatives from the Cherokee Nation.
• Molly of Denali was the first American nationally distributed children's show to feature an Alaska Native as the main character.

2020s

2020

• I See Red: Target by Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes) was the first painting on canvas by a Native American artist in the National Gallery of Art.
• Neilson Powless (Oneida) was the first Native American to compete in the Tour de France.
• The Cherokee Nation was the first U.S. tribe to contribute heirloom seeds to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.
• Stephanie Byers (Chickasaw Nation) was the first Native American openly transgender person elected to office in America. She was elected to the Kansas state House of Representatives.
• Elizabeth Peratrovich (Tlingit) was the first Alaska Native to be featured on United States currency.
• Madison Hammond (Navajo and San Felipe Pueblo) was the first Native American to play for the National Women's Soccer League.

2021

• Michaela Goade (Tlingit and Haida tribes) won the first Caldecott Medal for a Native American. This was for We Are Water Protectors.
• Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo) was the first Native American to serve as a US Cabinet secretary (Secretary of the Interior).

2022

• Raven Chacon (Navajo) was the first Native American to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music.
• Janee' Kassanavoid (Comanche) was the first Native American woman to win a medal at the World Athletics Championships.
• Marilynn Malerba (Mohegan) was the first Native American Treasurer of the United States.
• Nicole Aunapu Mann (of Wailacki heritage, enrolled member of the Round Valley Indian Tribes) was the first Native American woman in space.
• David Wilson (Choctaw) was the first Native American elected to the position of bishop in the United Methodist Church.

2023

• Nicole Aunapu Mann (of Wailacki heritage, enrolled member of the Round Valley Indian Tribes) was the first Native American woman to go on a spacewalk.
• Larissa FastHorse (Sicangu Lakota) was the first Native American female playwright to have a play produced on Broadway. Her play was called The Thanksgiving Play.

2024

• Jeffrey Gibson (Mississippi Choctaw/Cherokee) was the first Native American artist to have a solo exhibition in the American pavilion of the Venice Biennale.
• Tom Cole (Chickasaw Nation) was the first Native American Committee on Appropriations chair.

See also

• Native Americans in the United States
• List of African American firsts
• List of Asian American firsts