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List of Native Americans of the United States facts for kids

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Indigenous Americans by county
Proportion of Indigenous Americans in each county of the fifty states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico as of the 2020 United States Census

This is a list of notable Native Americans from peoples indigenous to the contemporary United States, including Native Alaskans, Native Hawaiians, and Native Americans in the United States. Native American identity is a complex and contested issue. The Bureau of Indian Affairs defines Native American as having American Indian or Alaska Native ancestry. Legally, being Native American is defined as being enrolled in a federally recognized tribe or Alaskan village. Ethnologically, factors such as culture, history, language, religion, and familial kinships can influence Native American identity. All individuals on this list should have Native American ancestry. Historical figures might predate tribal enrollment practices and would be included based on ethnological tribal membership.


Artists

Main article: List of Native American artists

Chiefs and other leaders

Warriors and military

Politicians

Main article: List of Native American politicians

Religious leaders

Writers

For more details, see List of writers from peoples indigenous to the Americas

Television and films

Main article: List of Native American actors

Musicians and singers

Main article: List of Native American musicians

Sport

Main article: List of Native American sportspeople

Activists

  • Anna Mae Aquash, Mi'kmaq. She participated in the American Indian Movement (AIM) in the Wounded Knee incident at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, United States in 1973.
  • Dennis Banks, Leech Lake Ojibwe activist, teacher, lecturer, author and co-founder of the American Indian Movement
  • Mary Brave Bird, Brulé Lakota activist. She was a member of the American Indian Movement during the 1970s and participated in some of their most publicized events.
  • Clyde Bellecourt White Earth Ojibwe activist and co-founder of the American Indian Movement
  • Carter Camp, Ponca activist
  • Don Coyhis, Mohican, sobriety leader and mental health activist, lecturer and author. Founder of Wellbriety, a holistic approach that emphasizes community support for individuals as well as a return to cultural roots for Native American communities.
  • Billy Frank Jr., Nisqually (deceased), environmental leader and treaty rights. He was the founder and chairman, Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission
  • Winona LaDuke, White Earth Ojibwe environmental activist and writer. She was known for her work on tribal land claims and preservation, as well as sustainable development.
  • Susan LaFlesche Picotte, Omaha/Ponca/Iowa activist, first female Native American physician. She campaigned for public health and for the formal, legal allotment of land to members of the Omaha tribe.
  • Susette LaFlesche Tibbles, Omaha/Ponca/Iowa spokesperson for Native American rights
  • Katherine Smith, (Navajo) activist and defender of Navajo lands
  • Betty Osceola, Miccosukee educator, conservationist, anti-fracking, and clean water advocate in the Florida Everglades
  • Deborah Parker (Tulalip, born 1970), activist and Tulalip Tribes vice-chairwoman from 2012 to 2015 Parker campaigned for the reauthorization and for the inclusion of provisions which gave tribal courts jurisdiction over violent crimes against women and families involving non–Native Americans on tribal lands.
  • Leonard Peltier, Turtle Mountain Chippewa/Lakota activist. A member of the American Indian Movement (AIM), he is imprisoned for first-degree murder for the shooting of two Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents during a 1975 conflict on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
  • Elizabeth Peratrovich, Tlingit civil rights activist. Peratrovich and her husband were instrumental in the successful Alaska Native Sisterhood and Alaska Native Brotherhood campaign against racial discrimination in Alaska, culminating in the 1945 enactment of the Anti-Discrimination Act.
  • Lawrence Plamondon, Grand Traverse Odawa/Ojibwe activist and storyteller. He helped found the White Panther Party. He was the first hippie to be listed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. Plamondon's father was half-Odawa and his mother was part-Ojibwe.
  • D'Arcy McNickle, Salish Kootenai author, activist, and anthropologist
  • Zitkala-Sa, Yankton Dakota writer and activist. She was co-founder of the National Council of American Indians, supporting Native civil rights. In addition, she served as its president until her death in 1938. She wrote several books about the Native American cultures and is one of the most influential Native American activists of the twentieth century.
  • Simon Pokagon, Potawatomi author and Native American advocate.
  • Leopold Pokagon, Potawatomi storyteller and activist. He tried to protect and promote the Potawatomi communities living in the St. Joseph River Valley and their lands.
  • Luana Reyes, Confederated Colville Tribes (Sinixt) health activist and educator, 1933–2001
  • Sarah Winnemucca, Paiute advocate for the rights of Native Americans and served US forces as a messenger, interpreter, and guide, and as a teacher for imprisoned Native Americans. She also wrote the "first known autobiography written by a Native American woman."

Linguists and interpreters

Journalists and columnists

Academics

Scientists

Other

See also

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