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GREAT NATIVE AMERICANS THAT HELPED DEFINE THE PAST

Added on: 14th Jun 2016

 

PUSHMATAHA

Pushmataha

Very few Choctaws from the early 1800’s are better known than

Pushmataha. The man who negotiated several well-publicized

treaties with the United States and led Choctaws in support

of the Americans during the War of 1812 is mentioned in nearly

all the histories that include the Choctaws.

 

 

IRA HAYES

WW II flag raising

Ira Hayes was an Akimel O’odham (Pima) Indian, born in Sacaton,

Arizona, on January 12, 1923. On August 26, 1942, Ira Hayes

enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve in Phoenix during World War II

and a few years later he made history by becoming the only

Native American to participate in the famous WW II flag raising

on February 25, 1945, on Mount Suribachi in Iwo Jima.

 

 

POCAHONTAS

Pocahontas

Despite not knowing as much as we might think about Pocahontas’s

life, her story has fascinated people for more than four centuries

and still inspires people today. She became a Disney figure, and

her “interracial” love story will undoubtedly continue to

inspire people all over the world.

 

 

MARIA TALLCHIEF

Maria Tallchief

Maria Tallchief was a revolutionary American ballerina who broke

barriers for Native American women. Tallchief grew up in

Los Angeles, California, where she studied ballet for many years.

Her career spanned the globe and led to a short marriage to

George Balanchine. She died on April 11, 2013, at the age of

eighty-eight, in Chicago, Illinois.

 

 

KEOKUK

Keokuk

Keokuk was a chief of the Sauk/Sac tribe in central North America

noted for his policy of cooperation with the American government,

which led to conflict with Black Hawk, who led part of their band

into the Black Hawk War. Keokuk County, Iowa, and the town of

the same name where he is buried are named after him.

 

 

JOHN HERRINGTON

John Herrington

In November 2002, John Herrington became the first tribally enrolled

Native American Indian astronaut to go to outer space during

NASA’s STS-113 flight.

 

 

JIM THORPE

Jim Thorpe

There’s a great debate about who’s the greatest North American

sportsman in history: some will tell you Babe Ruth; others

Muhammad Ali; basketball fans will stick with Michael Jordan or

LeBron James, and hockey fans will say Wayne Gretzky.

Recently the name of the most decorated Olympian ever,

swimmer Michael Phelps, has been dropped in this debate

but most sports historians will agree that the most versatile

North American athlete ever was Jim Thorpe. Of Native American

and European ancestry Thorpe won Olympic gold medals for

the 1912 pentathlon and decathlon, played American football

at the collegiate and professional level, and played professional

baseball and basketball too. In a poll of sports fans conducted

by ABC Sports, Thorpe was voted the Greatest Athlete of the

Twentieth Century out of fifteen sports, including

those we mentioned above.

 

 

PONTIAC

Pontiac

Chief Pontiac became known for his role in Pontiac’s

Rebellion, an American Indian struggle against the

British occupation of the Great Lakes area. He enlisted

support from other Indian tribes and staged attacks on

British forts but eventually agreed to sign a peace treaty

in July 1766. He was murdered by a Peoria Indian in 1769.

 


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