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John Herrington. Photo by NASA.

20 Famous Native Americans we should all know about

Most of us might have forgotten about the famous Native Americans either from the popular media or textbooks. To bring into our memories, it has taken a lot of effort from various marginalized groups and the underrepresented to give them the recognition they deserve. The Native Americans are much diversified to include scientists, historians, artists, and politicians among others. There is a lot of emphasis that has been laid on the current influencers and thus there is a need to learn about the trailblazers of the past years such as Red Wing and Jim Thorpe.

Below are the twenty famous Native Americans that we should all know about.

1. Louie Gong

Louie Gong is a popular Canadian American entrepreneur, activist, public speaker, and educator who was born on August 1974. He also graduated with a master’s degree in counseling from Western Washington University and worked as a family and child therapist. He was brought up by his stepmother, his father, and her grandmother in Ruskin. In his career, Gong is known to be the founder of the company Eighth Generation which he used to consolidate traditional Coast Salish art with icons from popular culture.

2. Tecumseh

Tecumseh. Author is attributed to Owen Staples.

Tecumseh was a warrior who was against the expansion of the United States onto the Native American land and the Shawnee chief. He was born in 1768 and later passed on in October 1813 at the age of 45 in Moraviantown, Upper Canada.  He was born in what is currently known as Ohio at the time when far-flung were reuniting with their Ohio Country homeland. He was greatly admired by several people including some of the Americans who fought against him. However, though he won several battles his death led to the collapse of his confederacy.

3. Tommy Orange

Tommy Orange. Photo by Larry D. Moore.

Tommy Orange is a popular American novelist and writer who was born on 19th January 1982 in Oakland, California. One of his books named “There There” which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize won the American Book Award of 2019. As he grew up he showed his love for music and went on to pursue a bachelor’s in audio engineering and later obtained a master’s in Fine Arts. From his career as an author, he received the John Leonard Prize in 2018 which was awarded for the first author’s book in any genre.

4. Sacheen Little Feather

Marie Louise Cruz. Photo by

Marie Louise Cruz who was better known by the name Sacheen Little Feather was born on 14^th November 1946 and passed on in October 2022. She was a very popular American model, actress, and activist for Native American civil rights. Before her death, she had spent about a year in a psychiatric hospital after she had some voices that pushed her to commit suicide. She however had a very challenging childhood after her mother left her father and she had to grow up with her maternal grandparents. Although she had a difficult childhood, her passion for acting led her to participate in the American Indian festival at Foothill College.

5. Sharice Davids

Sharice Davids. Photo by Kristie Boyd.

Sharice Davids is a popular American attorney, politician, and martial artist who was born on 22^nd May 1980 in Frankfurt, West Germany. She attended the University of Kansas and the University of Missouri-Kansas City where she graduated with a degree in business administration. In 2006 she began competing in mixed martial arts at the amateur level and later went to the professional in 2013. Her hard work saw her elected as the representative of the Kansas congressional district. During the transition between Trump and Obama, she served in the department of transportation as the White House Fellow.

6. Deb Haaland

Deb Haaland. Photo by Department of the Interior.

Debra Anne Haaland commonly known as Deb Haaland is an American politician born on 2^nd December 1960 in Winslow, Arizona. She became very popular after being the first Native American to take the position of cabinet secretary in the United States Congress. She was also elected as the first Native American woman to lead a state party. Her major focus during the period she served in congress was climate change, family-friendly policies, and environmental justice.

7. Wesley Studi

Wesley Studi is a Native American actor and film producer, born on 17^th December 1947 in Nofire Hollow, Oklahoma. He pursued his education at Chilocco Indian Agricultural School and later graduated with dry cleaning being his vocational major. Throughout his career, he managed to acquire several critical acclaim and awards especially for showcasing Native Americans in films. Some of the award-winning films that he participated in include The Last of the Mohicans and Dances with Wolves. He also won the artist of the decade at the first Americans in the Arts Awards in 2000.

8. Gil Birmingham

Gil Birmingham is a well-known American actor who was born on 13^th July 1953 in San Antonio, Texas, United States. He became very prominent from the role of Tribal Chairman Thomas Rainwater in the series, Yellowstone. In the film series, The Twilight Saga he is also very popular for the portrayal of Billy Black and George Hunter in the film series Banshee. The reason why he appears very familiar to a good number of people is due to his appearance in films and series for decades.

9. Juane Quick-to-See Smith

Juane Quick-to-See Smith is a popular Native American curator and visual artist, born on 15^th January 1940 in St. Ignatius Mission, Montana, United States. Apart from being a visual artist, she is also a political activist, art advocate, and art educator. Some of her spectacular pieces of work have been displayed in several galleries and museums since the 1970s. Most of her work majorly focuses on the oppression of the indigenous culture by the government and environmental degradation.

10. Zahn McClarnon

Zahn McClarnon. Photo by thepaparazzigame.

Zahn McClarnon is a popular American actor who was born on 24^th October 1966 in Denver, Colorado, United States. During his childhood, Zahn was brought up around Browning, Montana where his father used to work at Glacier National Park. Being a popular television actor and a veteran filmmaker, he played several roles in Fargo, Westworld, and Longmire among others. After playing a recurring role in Hawkeye, he also became a part of the Marvel cinematic universe. He however once experienced a brain injury after falling in his home which caused the temporary shutdown of production of Westworld.

11. Joy Harjo

Joy Harjo. Photo by Slowking.

Joy Harjo is a well-known American author, musician, poet, and playwright born in May 1951 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States. During her childhood, Joy found a lot of passion in painting which she claimed was the best way of expressing herself. After joining the university, she changed her major to art after the first year and later changed to creative writing during her last year. She became the first Native American to hold the honor of serving as the 23^rd United States Poet Laureate. Joy has also released about seven albums of her original music in addition to teaching several universities and writing books.  

12. Cheri Madsen

Cheri Madsen. Photo by Clément Bucco-Lechat. Wikimedia Commons

Cheri Madsen is a popular American Paralympics wheelchair racing athlete born on September 1976 in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. When she was the age of three years, she lost her leg as a result of a viral infection in her spine. She later joined wheelchair racing in 1994 and after two years she qualified for the Paralympics. Cheri became the first Native American female in history to win the Olympics exhibitions bronze medal. She semi-retired from the competition in 2001 but later returned in 2013.

13. John Herrington

John Herrington. Photo by NASA.

John Herrington is an astronaut born on 14^th September 1958 in Wetumka, Oklahoma, United States. He grew up in several places including Riverton, Colorado, Wyoming, Texas, and Plano where he pursued his education and graduated from Plano Senior High School. He became the first Native American to enroll in flying in space in 2002. John received his commission to join the United States Navy in 1984 after completing his studies at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida.

14. Wendy Red Star

Wendy Red Star. Photo by Jason Hargrove. Wikimedia COMMONS

Wendy Red Star is a well-known apsaalooke contemporary multimedia artist born in 1981 in Billings, Montana, United States. She was able to use her Native American image to draw several viewers in her work as well as her humorous approach. Since she grew up as bi-racial she went through identity issues and she was afraid of her classmates knowing that her grandparents were white. She has also been featured in several venues including Hood Art Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, St. Louis Art Museum, and Portland Art Museum among others.

15. Sean Sherman

Sean Sherman. Photo by DThompson1313.

 Sean Sherman is a promoter of indigenous cuisine, author, and chef born in 1974 in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, United States. Sean lived with his grandparents on their ranch on Pine Ridge and began hunting and foraging at an early age. At the age of seven, his grandfather gave him a shotgun on his birthday and grew up feeding on several government commodity foods. Although he had a very successful career as a chef he was first employed in a restaurant to wash dishes at the age of thirteen.

16. Temryss Lane

Temryss Lane is a popular female soccer player born on 22^nd May 1982 in Bellingham, Washington. She also made her first debut in August 2009 when the new season of the FFF began but the show was however canceled one year later. While in high school, she competed in several games including basketball, soccer, and track, and also trained in ballet. She is also known to speak frequently on various solutions that address several challenges facing indigenous communities.

17. Tom Goldtooth 

Tom Goldtooth is a popular climate, environmental, and economic justice activist born on July 1953 in Farmington, New Mexico, united states. While growing up, Tom was brought up by his grandparents as his mother pursued a degree in San Diego. He became very active locally, nationally, and internationally as an advocate for building a sustainable indigenous society. Tom became the executive director of the Indigenous Environmental Network after serving as a member of the National Council in 1992. To better work for the social welfare needs of the Native Americans, he decided to pursue a   degree in social work.

18. Winona LaDuke

Winona LaDuke. Photo by Frypie.

Winona LaDuke is a well-known environmentalist, writer, and economist born in August 1959 in Los Angeles, California. As she grew up in Ashland she attended a public school where she was involved in a debate team in high school before joining Harvard University and becoming an indigenous activist. LaDuke is also the founder of the White Earth Land Recovery Project which was followed by a human rights award from Reebok. She was also involved in a political environment where she received an electoral vote for the vice president and became the first green party member to receive the electoral vote in 2016.

19. Forrest Goodluck

Forrest Goodluck is a professional American actor who was born on 6^th August 1998 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. He began his acting career while in elementary school in the sixth grade during the production of A Charlie Brown Christmas. He also became very popular following his actions in the film “The Revenant” for which he auditioned at the age of fifteen. In 2016, Goodluck won the award of the Young Artist Award for Best Performance in the Feature Film category.

20. Crazy Horse

Crazy Horse. Author is unknown.

Crazy Horse was a popular Lakota war leader born on September 1877 near Rapid Creep, Black Hills, United States. As a leader, he played a very critical role against the United States federal government as he fought against the encroachment of white Americans into the Native American territory. Even after his death, Crazy Horse is still commemorated by the incomplete Crazy Horse Memorial which is near the town of Berne.