13 important Amerindians that you have not learned at school

These indigenous peoples are worth honoring this month of Aboriginal American heritage.


Nearly 400 years after the first Thanksgiving, Americans remain grateful for vital donations that indigenous peoples gave their ancestors. Without the help of the native tribes who taught them how to exploit and hunt, the pilgrims who landed in Plymouth Rock in 1620 would almost certainly perished. But we have a strange way to show gratitude. Although November isAmerindian American Heritage Month, Most Americans can only name a handful of Native American heroes.Grief,Pocahontas, andSacagaweacome to mind. So doGeronimo,Sitting Bull, andCrazy horse. It is a distinguished list, safe, but a huge inadequate considering that everyone on this one has been exploited, slaughtered or otherwise oppressed by Western settlers.

Because the nation was built on their sacrifices, Native Americans deserve to be recognized and celebrated not only for what they lost in the United States, but also for the United States gained from them. You can do your part to honor their contributions by thanking these 13 people and their underestimated achievements.

1
John Herrington

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John Herrington,ofNATION CHICKASAW, was the first amateur of Amerindian to fly in space and perform a space space. An American Marine Aviator with Retirement and Astronaut of NASA, theNative oklahoma Was a member of the crew aboard the STS-113 spatial shuttleEffort When launched Kennedy Space Center on November 23, 2002. During the mission, which has delivered the crew and cargo to and from the International Space Station-Herringtoncarried out three spatial tracks totaling nearly 20 hours. In honor of his heritage, hecarried with him Six eagle feathers, a sweet grass braid, two arrowheads and the flag of the Chickasaw Nation.

2
Ben NightThorse Campbell

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When he was elected to serveColorado In the American Senate in 1992,Ben NightThorse CampbellWas the only American maternal at Congress and the first amateur lover to serve in the Senate in over 60 years. Descended from a Portuguese immigrant and an Indian from northern Cheyenne, he hada lot of lives before he has been legislatory. It was a veteran of the Korean War, an Olympic judo wrestler and even a renowned jewelry artist. When he retired from the Senate in 2005, hisKey Achievements Included Native American Water Rights Legislation, Protecting Wildlife Areas, Preventing Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Create the Creek Colorado Massacre National Historic Site and establish theNational Indian Museum of American Indian in Washington, D.C.

3
Susan La Flesche Picotte

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Susan La Flesche Picottewas theFirst Amerindian woman receiving a medical degree In the United States, graduates of the Pennsylvania's Medical College in 1889. A member of the Omaha tribe, she grew up on the reservation of Omaha in the northeastNebraskaWhere she has already watched an aboriginal woman dies because the local white doctor refused to give him care. Since this memory was what inspired him to become a doctor, she finally returned to Nebraska, where she created aprivate practice serve Native American and white patients. Two years before his death from cancer in 1915, she realized her dream of her life when she opened her ownhospital On the reservation of Omaha, the first hospital built on a Native American land without government assistance. Today, Dr. Susan The Fascot Picotte Memorial Hospital Walthill, Nebraska, houses aMuseum Honor his inheritance.

4
IRA HAYES

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One of the most emblematic images of the Second World War isJoe Rosenthal'sPulitzer pricephotograph Six American Marines raising the American flag on Mount Suribachi at Iwo Jima, Japan. Although you have seen the photo of countless times, what you probably do not know is thatone of the marines It isIra Hayes,An Native American born in 1923 on the Indian booking of Gila River Arizona, south of Phoenix. Hayes, who had only 22 years old when the photo was taken in 1945, received the medal of the navy's recommendation and the marine body for his heroic service, and was forevermemorized throughJohnny Caissein his song"The ballad of Ira Hayes." Of the 45 men of his platoon, he was one of only 5 to survive.

5
Charlene Teters

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Whether you follow sports or not, you probably know the controversy surrounding the use of derogatory stereotypes in Indian team names and mascots. Artist and Native American activistCharlene Teterswas one of the first tospeak against them. Often called the"Rosa Parks" Native Americans, Teters - the tribe - Spokane was a graduate student at theUniversity of IllinoisIn 1988, when she attended a game of college basketball in which the fictional school mascot, the Illiniwek leader, played a simulated tribal dance while fans with painted faces shouted chants war stand. Teters then started to protest outside sporting events in school and finally managed to convince the universitywithdraw his longtime mascot In 2007, more than a decade after graduation. His activism is the subject of filmmakersJay Rosenstein's1997 DocumentaryIn honor of that?

6
Maria

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Like so many young men in front of her, and as long after,Mariamoved to New York At 17, pursue a dream. What made her so unique pursuit, however, was itNative American Heritage: Tallchief wanted to be a ballet dancer and American ballet companies do not engaged Aboriginal dancers. That changed in 1942 when she joined the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. The haltchief, the Osage tribe of Oklahoma, was the first Prima Ballerina of the country, dancing in the ballet of the city of New York in 1946 and became the first American to dance with the ballet of the Paris Opera the Next year. She retired from the stage in 1965 andserved as ballet director for the Lyric Opera of Chicago, after which itco-founded Ballet of the city of Chicago. When she died in 2013,The New York Times called it "one of the brightest American ballerinas of the twentieth century."

7
Allan Houser

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The sculpture has always been special for Native Americans, the generations have made pottery for use in the kitchen, storage and even tribal storytelling. The sculpture was especially sacred, however, NativeAllan Houser, Who used to beone of the most important modernist artists 20th century. Houser, a member of the Chiricahua Apache Tribe of Oklahoma, studied painting at the Santa Fe Indian School and obtained national profile painting paints for the administration of federal jobs work in the 1930s launched hissculpture career in 1948 and became known forabstract figures Made of bronze, steel, marble and wood, most of which represented the Amerindians, culture and ideals. In 1992, two years before his death, he became the first Native American to receive the National Medal of Arts.

8
Wilma Mankiller

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Activist for women's rightsWilma Mankillerwas thefirst lady elected to be chief of the Cherokee Nation. As principal conductor from 1985 to 1995, a position she continued despite considerable obstacles, including the rampant sexism and even threats of violence against her - she wasfamous for Advancement of education, vocational training, housing and health care for its population. Shedouble Annual Cherokee Nation tribal revenues and tripled tribal enrollment. PresidentBill ClintonMankiller awarded the highest civilian honor of the nation, the Medal of Freedom in 1998. In 2017, it was celebrated in the documentary filmMancheuse.

9
Cory Withherill

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Since the Spanish explorers brought them to the New World from Europe, horses were inextricably associated with Native Americans in film, art and literature. But Los Angeles nativeCory Withherillis not known for horsesit is known for the power. In 2001, Fusorill, a member of the Navajo Nation, became the first Native American to participate in theIndy 500 For over 40 years, and the first American pilot autochtono complete the race. Heplaced 19th of 33.

10
Notha Begay III

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Notha Begay IIIis anotherIndian athlete You might not know but should. Half a Navajo, a quarter of San Felipe and a quarter Isleta, it is the only full amateur amateur blood to have played on the PGA tour. Born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico, he attendedStanford UniversityOn a golf scholarship and headed the school golf team at a national championship in 1994. He then won four PGA tournaments and became the third player in the history of professional golf to shoot 59, the Recording of the lowest 18 hole score. His foundation,The Notha Begay III Foundation, is focused on the health and well-being of young Amerindians.

11
Jim Thorpe

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Michael Jordanplayed with professional basketball and baseball, while awesome footballJim brownAlso played collegial basketball and lacrosse. Perhaps theLargest multi-sport athlete of all time, however, isJim Thorpe, from the bag and the Fox Nation. Descended from the famous Chippewa warriorBlack FalconHe was the first Amerindian athlete to win an Olympic gold medal. In fact, he won two at the 1912 Olympics in Decathlon and Pentathlon. Although the two have been removed because it had been paid once to play the minor-league baseball-a violation of the Olympic rules - the International Olympic Committee has restored them in 1982, nearly 30 years after its death. A crisis cardiac in 1953. After his Olympic Triumph, Thorpe played professionalSoccer,baseballand basketball, and also appeared in70 Films. He even has a city named from the city:Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania.

12
N. Scott Momaday

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While oral history is sacred in Amerindian culture, it is easily eroded by the passage of time and the evolution of the language. Indian kiowaN. Scott Momaday has become a prolific writer In order to save the precious stories of his tribe. His first novel-1968House made of dawn, about a young veteran returning to his Kiowa Pueblo after serving in the US military - won aPULITZER PRIZES and is widely credited withRenaissance in Amerindian literature. In its subsequent books of poetry, plays, prose and children, Momaday continued to marry Native American oral traditions with Western literary forms, bleeding him aNational Arts Medal, a Guggenheim Stock Exchange, and12 degrees fees.

13
James McDonald

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Choctaw IndianJames McDonaldwas the countryFirst Aboriginal American lawyer. Born and raised in Mississippi, he decided to study the law when politicians led by President Future Andrew Jackson - began to organize efforts to eliminate the Native American tribes of their land in the South and to move them to the Where is. Instead of physical resistance, McDonaldtheorized that it could reason federal legislators on legal grounds. He became a lawyer and subsequently represented the Shouttaw tribe in negotiations with politicians to whom he claimed one of the last legal cases of Native American rights. "Your government's theory is justice and good faith for all men," wrote McDonald in an open letter to Congress. "Impressed by this persuasion, we are convinced that our rights will be preserved." Although the tribe finally failed Jackson signed theIndian Expulsion Act In 1830, sending thousands of Native Americans to their death along theTrailMcDonald's efforts have been the foundation for a struggle for indigenous rights that still continue today.


Categories: Culture
Tags: Facts / history / Trivia
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