90 American Indian & Alaska Native History Makers That Shaped The World

Powhatan, whose proper name was Wahunsenacawh, was the leader of the Powhatan, an alliance of Algonquian-speaking American Indians living in Tsenacommacah, in the Tidewater region of Virginia at the time when English settlers landed at Jamestown in 1607.

Thayendanegea or Joseph Brant was a Mohawk military and political leader, based in present-day New York, who was closely associated with Great Britain during and after the American Revolution.

Sequoyah, also known as George Gist or George Guess, was a Native American polymath of the Cherokee Nation. In 1821, he completed his independent creation of the Cherokee syllabary, making reading and writing in Cherokee possible.

Tecumseh was a Shawnee chief and warrior who promoted resistance to the expansion of the United States onto Native American lands. A persuasive orator, Tecumseh traveled widely, forming a Native American confederacy and promoting intertribal unity.

Sacagawea was a Lemhi Shoshone woman who, in her teens, helped the Lewis and Clark Expedition in achieving their chartered mission objectives by exploring the Louisiana Territory.

Red Cloud was one of the most important leaders of the Oglala Lakota from 1868 to 1909. He was one of the most capable Native American opponents whom the United States Army faced in the western territories.

Sitting Bull was a Hunkpapa Lakota leader who led his people during years of resistance against United States government policies.

Anna lived in Nunapitchuk, an Eskimo village of 400 people 410 miles west of Anchorage. In 1979, Anna graduated from her village high school. By then, the number of new high school programs under the consent decree had climbed to 66.

Howard Rock or Uyaġak (previously written as Weiyahok) was an Iñupiaq newspaper editor, activist, and artist. He was well known for his artwork and for founding the first ever Alaska Native newspaper.

Michael James "Moose" Heney was a railroad contractor, best known for his work on the first two railroads built in Alaska, the White Pass and Yukon Route and the Copper River and Northwestern Railway. The son of Irish immigrants, Heney rose to the top of his profession before his death.

Ernest Henry Gruening was an American journalist and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, Gruening was the Governor of the Alaska Territory from 1939 until 1953, and a United States Senator from Alaska from 1959 until 1969.

John Ben "Benny" Benson Jr. was an Alaska native, best known for designing the flag of Alaska. Benson was 14 years old when he won a contest in 1927 to design the flag for the Territory of Alaska, which became a U.S. state on January 3, 1959.

Libby Riddles is an American dog musher, and the first woman to win the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Riddles was born in Madison, Wisconsin, to Willard and Mary Riddles, and moved to Alaska just before her 17th birthday.

Bethany Yellowtail is a fashion designer based in Los Angeles, California. She is known for her work that reflects her indigenous heritage stemming from Northern Cheyenne and Crow tribes.

Keri Ataumbi is a Kiowa artis and jewelry maker. Her works have been featured in exhibits and permanent collections of various museums. In 2015, she and her sister, Teri Greeves were honored as Living Treasures by the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

David W. "Famous Dave" Anderson, best known as the founder of the Famous Dave's and Old Southern BBQ Smokehouse restaurant chains, is a former Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs in the George W. Bush administration.

In 2020, Stetson launched Anchorage Grocery, a special order, bulk food delivery service. Anchorage Grocery is Stetson’s first business and is a direct result of the pandemic: he needed an income and a way to satisfy his creative drive. 

Ernestine Saankaláxt Hayes belongs to the Kaagwaaataan clan, also known as the wolf house, representing the Eagle side of the Tlingit Nation. Hayes is a Tlingit author and an Emerita retired professor at the University of Alaska Southeast in Juneau, Alaska.

Velma May Wallis is a Native American writer of Gwich'in Athabascan Indian descent. Her books have been translated into 17 languages.

Ticasuk Brown was an Iñupiaq educator, poet and writer. She was the recipient of a Presidential Commission and was the first Native American to have a school named after her in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Sidney Charles Huntingtonwas born in Hughes, Alaska. When Sidney was five years old, his mother died suddenly leaving Sidney and two younger siblings to survive on their own in the wilderness for two weeks.

Madeline Solomon has a wealth of information about the Koyukon language and the old people who lived when she was a young woman.  She identified many archive photographs by Jesuit Priests in the early 1900’s, some of which appear in her books and other biographies.

Dana Stabenow is an American author of science fiction, mystery/crime fiction, suspense/thriller, and historical adventure novels.

Navarre Scott Momaday is a Kiowa novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. His novel House Made of Dawn was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1969, and is considered the first major work of the Native American Renaissance.

James Phillip Welch Jr., who grew up within the Blackfeet and A'aninin cultures of his parents, was a Native American novelist and poet, considered a founding author of the Native American Renaissance.

Janet Campbell Hale was a Native American writer and professor. She was Coeur d'Alene and of Ktunaxa and Cree descent. Hale's work often explored issues of Native American identity and discusses poverty, abuse, and the condition of women in society.

Leslie Marmon Silko is an American writer. A Laguna Pueblo Indian woman, she is one of the key figures in the First Wave of what literary critic Kenneth Lincoln has called the Native American Renaissance.

Gerald Robert Vizenor is an American writer and scholar, and an enrolled member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, White Earth Reservation. Vizenor also taught for many years at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was Director of Native American Studies.

Joseph Bruchac is a writer and storyteller. He is best known for his work regarding the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, with a particular focus on northeastern Native American and Anglo-American lives and folklore.

Vine Victor Deloria Jr. was an author, theologian, historian, and activist for Native American rights. He was widely known for his book Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto, which helped attract national attention to Native American issues.

Sterlin Harjo is an American filmmaker. He has directed three feature films, a feature documentary, and the FX comedy series Reservation Dogs, all of them set in his home state of Oklahoma and concerned primarily with Native American people and content.

Sydney Freeland is a Navajo filmmaker. She wrote and directed the short film Hoverboard (2012) and the film Drunktown's Finest (2014), which garnered numerous acclaim after premiering at the Sundance Film Festival.

Chris Eyre, an enrolled member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, is an American film director and producer who as of 2012 is chairman of the film department at the Santa Fe University of Art and Design.

Georgina Lightning is a Native American woman who moved to Los Angeles with her 3 young children in 1990 to attend the American Academy of Dramatic Arts for 3 years, which includes the 1 year of Repertory Theater. 

Tracy Rector is an American filmmaker, curator, and arts advocate based in Seattle, Washington. She is the executive director and co-founder of Longhouse Media, an Indigenous and POC media arts organization and home of the nationally acclaimed program Native Lens.

Erica Tremblay is a Seneca–Cayuga American documentary film director, based out of New York City known for her films In the Turn, Heartland: A Portrait of Survival and Tiny Red Universe.

Sky Hopinka is a Native American visual artist and filmmaker who is a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation and a descendant of the Pechanga Band of Luiseño people. Hopinka was awarded a MacArthur Foundation Grant in 2022.

Pamela J. Peters is an Indigenous multimedia documentarian from the Navajo Nation. She produces films and photography exhibitions with the intent to deconstruct stereotypes of Native Americans in the mainstream media.

Victor Masayesva Jr. is a Hopi filmmaker, video-artist, and photographer. Born on the Hopi Reservation of Arizona, and growing up in Hotevilla, Masayesva's artistic career reflects his active participation with the Hopi community, his body of work promoting Hopi culture and worldview.

Klee Benally is the lead vocalist and guitarist of Navajo punk rock band Blackfire. Benally is also an activist, artist, silversmith, and filmmaker. He also performs traditional Navajo dances and is a champion fancy war dancer.

Edgar Heap of Birds is a multi-disciplinary artist. His art contributions include public art messages, large scale drawings, Neuf Series acrylic paintings, prints, and monumental porcelain enamel on steel outdoor sculpture. 

Charles Curtis was an American attorney and Republican politician from Kansas who served as the 31st vice president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 under Herbert Hoover.

Wilma Louise Victor was a Choctaw educator. She was born in Idabel, Oklahoma on November 5, 1919. A friend of hers was employed at the Federal Bureau of Indian Affairs and arranged for her to receive a scholarship to attend the University of Kansas for two years. 

Ada Deer is a member of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin and a Native American advocate, scholar and civil servant. As an activist she opposed the federal termination of tribes from the 1950s following the bills led by Arthur Vivian Watkins, a Republican senator.

Mary Peltola is an American former tribal court judge and politician serving as the U.S. representative for Alaska's at-large congressional district since September 2022.

Brenda Tiggausina Itta is an Iñupiaq activist and former legislator in Alaska's House of Representatives. 

Frank R. Ferguson was a member of the Alaska House of Representatives from 1971 to 1975. He was first elected as a Democrat to the 7th Legislature and to the 8th Legislature with a designation of "No Party."

Kim A. Weeden is an American sociologist. She is a professor of sociology at Cornell University, where she is also a Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow and the Jan Rock Zubrow '77 Professor of the Social Sciences.

Max Clifton Brewer was an Arctic scientist, geophysicist, geological engineer, environmentalist, educator, and philosopher, and is best known for his expertise in the scientific field of permafrost.

Derek Sikes was hired as the curator of insects at the University of Alaska Museum in July 2006. He is an advocate of the study and protection of arthropod, specifically beetle, biodiversity.

Edna Lee Paisano was a Nez Perce and Laguna Pueblo demographer and statistician. She worked to improve the representation of Indigenous communities in the United States census.

Joseph Patrick Gone is an American psychologist. He is a Professor of Anthropology and of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard University.

Bertha Pallan Thurston Cody was an American archaeologist, working as an assistant in archaeology at the Southwest Museum. She is thought to be the first Native American female archaeologist of Abenaki and Seneca descent.

Benjamin Bratt is an American actor and producer who is best known for his role as Detective Rey Curtis on the NBC drama series Law & Order.

Danny Trejo has developed a prolific career in the industry with a hard-earned and atypical road to success. From years of imprisonment to helping troubled youth battle drug addictions, from acting to producing, and now on to restaurant ventures.

Wesley Studi is a Native American actor and film producer. He has garnered critical acclaim and awards throughout his career, particularly for his portrayal of Native Americans in film.

Martin Sensmeier is an American actor and model. Of Alaska Native and European-American descent, he is known for playing various Native American roles.

Zahn Tokiya-ku McClarnon is an American actor known for his performances in the Western crime drama series Longmire, the second season of Fargo, and the second season of Westworld.

Adam Beach is a Canadian actor. He is best known for his roles as Victor Joseph in Smoke Signals, Frank Fencepost in Dance Me Outside, Tommy on Walker, Texas Ranger, Kickin' Wing in Joe Dirt, U.S. Marine.

Rick Mora is an American model and actor. He is of Apache and Yaqui descent. 

Gil Birmingham is an American actor known for his role as Tribal Chairman Thomas Rainwater in the Paramount Network's television series Yellowstone.

Chaske Spencer is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his role as Sam Uley in The Twilight Saga film series, and for his recurring role as Deputy Billy Raven in the Cinemax original series Banshee.

Saginaw Morgan Grant was a Native American character actor, best known for The Lone Ranger, The World's Fastest Indian, Community, and Breaking Bad. He was an award-winning musician, pow wow dancer, motivational speaker and the Hereditary Chief of the Sac and Fox Nation.

Elizabeth Marie Tallchief was an American ballerina. She was considered America's first major prima ballerina. She was the first Native American to hold the rank, and is said to have revolutionized ballet.

James Francis Thorpe was an American athlete and Olympic gold medalist. A member of the Sac and Fox Nation, Thorpe was the first Native American to win a gold medal for the United States in the Olympics.

William Mervin Mills, also known as Tamakoce Te'Hila, is an Oglala Lakota former track and field athlete who won a gold medal in the 10,000 meter run at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

Joe "The Boss" Hipp is a retired professional Native American heavyweight boxer. A member of the Blackfeet Tribe, he became the first Native American to challenge for a world heavyweight boxing championship on August 19, 1995 when he fought WBA champion Bruce Seldon at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

John Tortes "Chief" Meyers was a Major League Baseball catcher for the New York Giants, Boston Braves, and Brooklyn Robins from 1909 to 1917. Overall, he played in four World Series – the 1911, 1912, and 1913 Series with the Giants. Meyers was a Native American from the Cahuilla culture of California, and he was educated at Dartmouth College.

Louis Tewanima was an American two-time Olympic distance runner and silver medalist in the 10,000 meter run in 1912. He was a Hopi Indigenous American and ran for the Carlisle Indian School where he was a teammate of Jim Thorpe.

Ellison Myers Brown, widely known as Tarzan Brown, a direct descendant of the last acknowledged royal family of the Narragansett Tribe of Rhode Island, was a two-time winner of the Boston Marathon in 1936 and 1939 and 1936 U.S. Olympian.

Clarence John "Taffy" Abel was a professional ice hockey player for the New York Rangers and Chicago Black Hawks in the National Hockey League. Born in 1900 in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, United States, as a Native American Ojibwe, he was forced to hide his Native American ancestry until 1939.

Nathan West was born on September 29, 1978 in Anchorage, Alaska, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Bring It On (2000), Miracle (2004) and Not Another Teen Movie (2001).

Khaleed "Khleo" Leon Thomas is an American actor, influencer, gamer, host and entrepreneur. Khleo first garnered recognition as "Zero" in Holes, for which he was also nominated for a best supporting actor award.

Charles Michael Melton is an American actor and model. He is known for his roles as Reggie Mantle on The CW television series Riverdale and Daniel Bae in the film The Sun Is Also a Star.

Daniel Alexander Mintz is an American actor, comedian, and writer best known for his role as Bob's oldest daughter Tina Belcher on the animated show Bob's Burgers.

Rudy Pankow is an American actor. He stars as JJ Maybank on the Netflix teen drama series Outer Banks.

Ariel Tweto was born in 1987 in Unalakleet, Alaska, USA. She is a producer and actress, known for The Pipeline, Francis (2010) and The Great North (2021).

Thunderbird Dinwiddie was born on December 22, 1973 in Anchorage, Alaska, USA. She is an actress, known for The Aerialist (2020), Supernatural (2005) and The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland (1999).

Derek Theler is an American film and television actor and model.

Lydia Alice Jacoby is an American competitive swimmer specializing in breaststroke and individual medley events. When she was 17 years old, she won the gold medal in the 100-meter breaststroke at the 2020 Summer Olympics, her first Olympic Games.

Scott Carlos Gomez is an American professional ice hockey coach and former player. He was the assistant coach for the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League.

Trajan Shaka Langdon is an American basketball executive and former professional player. He first gained fame in the U.S. while playing college basketball at Duke University.

Almario Vernard "Mario" Chalmers is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Sioux Falls Skyforce of the NBA G League.

Carlos Austin Boozer Jr. is an American former professional basketball player. The two-time NBA All-Star played for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Utah Jazz, Chicago Bulls, and Los Angeles Lakers, and then spent his last season playing overseas with the Guangdong Southern Tigers.

Chad Robert Bentz is an American former professional baseball pitcher. Bentz grew up in Juneau, and he made history on April 7, 2004, by becoming the second pitcher, after Jim Abbott, to play in the Major Leagues after being born without one of his hands.

Mark Fremont Schlereth is a former professional American football player and current television and radio sportscaster. Schlereth played guard in the NFL for 12 seasons with the Washington Redskins and Denver Broncos.

Matthew Carle is an American former professional ice hockey defenseman. Carle played in the National Hockey League with the San Jose Sharks, Tampa Bay Lightning, Philadelphia Flyers and Nashville Predators.

August "Gus" Schumacher is an American cross-country skier. In 2020, Schumacher became the first American to win a gold medal in an individual race at the Junior World Ski Championships.

Ruth Cecilia Hebard is an American professional basketball player for the Chicago Sky of the Women's National Basketball Association. She played college basketball for the Oregon Ducks.