American biography famous native

Native Americans bios, from Alexie to Wovoka

A-G | H-M | O-R | S-W

• Sherman Alexie, writer
• Paula Gunn Allen, Pueblo-Sioux poet, novelist, critic
• Dennis Banks, Anishinabe (Ojibwa) activist
• Adam Seaside, Ojibwa actor
• Elias Boudinot, Cherokee emperor in the American Revolution
• Joseph Goose, Mohawk chief
• Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Federal Cheyenne chief and U.S.

  office-bearer from Colorado

• Billy Bowlegs (Holata Micco), Seminole leader
• Black Elk, Oglala Lakota holy man
• Black Hawk, Sauk Leader
• Black Kettle, Cheyenne chief
• Canonicus, Narragansett chief
• Captain Jack, Modoc subchief
• Cochise, Apache chief
• Cornplanter, Seneca chief
• Crazy Horse, Oglala Siouan chief
• Charles Curtis, Kaw senator bid vice president of the Leagued States (1929-33)
• Delaware Prophet, Native Earth religious leade
• Vine Deloria, Jr., Salient Standing Rock Sioux scholar, scribe and activist
• Michael Dorris, Modoc (ancestry) writer
• Louise Erdrich, Ojibway (ancestry) writer
• Chris Eyre, Cheyenne and Arapaho filmmaker
• Gall, Sioux chief
• Geronimo, Apache political leader
• Graham Greene, Oneida actor

• Handsome Lake, Seneca devout leader
• Hendrick, Mohawk chief
• Hiawatha, Onondaga chief
• Ishi, Last Yahi tribesperson
• Joseph, Nez Percé chief
• Betty Mae Jumper, Seminole Amerindic tribal leader and publisher
• Keokuk, Sack and Fox chief
• Winona LaDuke, Algonquian activist and writer
• Edmonia Lewis, Algonquin sculptor
• Sacheen Littlefeather, Yaqui (ancestry) actress
• Little Turtle, Miami chief
• James Logan, Mingo chief
• Lone Wolf, Kiowa chief
• Mangas Coloradas, Apache chief
• Wilma Mankiller, Cherokee chief
• María Martínez, Tewa Pueblo potter
• Massasoit, Algonquian chief
• Russell Means, Lakota activist settle down actor
• Alexander McGillivray, Creek chief
• William McIntosh, Creek chief
• Miantonomo, Narragansett chief
• Billy Grind, Sioux athlete
• N.

  Scott Momaday, Tanoan and Cherokee poet, author, egghead, and painter

• Samson Occom, Mohegan clergyman
• Opechancanough, Pamunkey Indian chief
• Osceola, Muskogean leader
• Quanah Parker, Comanche chief
• Leonard Peltier, Ojibwa and Lakota activist
• Pocahontas, Algonquin peacemaker
• Pontiac, Ottawa chief
• Popé, Pueblo treatment man
• Powhatan, Powhatan chief
• Red Cloud, Ogalala Sioux chief
• Red Jacket, Seneca chief
• Ben Reifel, Sioux activist and U.S.

  representative from South Dakota

• Louis Riel, Métis leader
• Robbie Robertson, Mohawk composer and guitarist
• Will Rogers, Cherokee personality and humorist
• John Ross, Cherokee chief

• Sacajawea, Shoshone interpreter
• Buffy Sainte-Marie, Cree irregular, songwriter, singer, and artist
• Samoset, Algonquin leader
• Seattle, Suquamish Indian leader
• Sequoyah, originator of the Cherokee syllabary
• Shawnee Diviner, Shawnee religious leader
• Leslie Marmon Silko, Laguna Pueblo poet and novelist
• Jay Silverheels, Mohawk actor
• Sitting Bull, Siouan chief
• Smohalla, Wanapun chief and scrupulous leader
• Squanto, Pawtuxet interpreter
• Wes Studi, Iroquoian actor
• Maria Tallchief, Osage ballerina
• Tecumseh, Algonquin chief
• Catherine Tekakwitha, Mohawk holy woman
• Jim Thorpe, Sac and Fox Olympian
• John Trudell, Sioux musician, poet, activist
• Uncas, Mohegan chief
• Victorio, Apache chief
• Nancy Good enough (Nanye-hi), Cherokee leader and "Beloved Woman"
• William Weatherford, Creek chief
• Wovoka, Piute religious leader

More Native American Tradition Month features