Thomas Banyacya facts for kids

Thomas Banyacya, Sr. (June 2, 1909 – February 6, 1999) was a Hopi Native American traditional leader.

Biography

Thomas Banyacya was born on June 2, 1909 and grew up in the village of Moenkopi, Arizona. He was a member of the Wolf, Fox, and Coyote clans. He first attended Sherman Indian School in Riverside, California and then Bacone College in Muskogee, Oklahoma.

He lived in Kykotsmovi, Arizona on the Hopi Reservation. During World War II, Banyacya was a draft resister, who spent time in prison over seven years each time he refused to register for the draft. In 1948, he was one of four Hopis (the other were David Monongye, Dan Evehema, and Dan Katchongva) who were named by elders to reveal Hopi traditional wisdom and teachings, including the Hopi prophecies for the future, to the general public, after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan.

Banyacya died on February 6, 1999 in Keams Canyon, Arizona. He had been married to Fermina (née Jenkins).

See also

• Janet McCloud
• Hibakusha
• Uranium in the environment
• Anti-nuclear movement in the United States
• The Navajo People and Uranium Mining