List of Native American firsts
This is a list of Native American firsts. Native American people were the first people to live in the area that is now known as the United States.[1] This is a chronological list of the first accomplishments that Native Americans have achieved both through their tribal identities and also through the culture of the United States over time. It includes individuals and groups of people who are indigenous to contemporary United States. This includes Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians and Native Americans in the United States.
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12th century: 1150s |
12th century
16th century
1500s
- League of Iroquois Nations is founded by Deganiwidah and Hiawatha.[3]
1580s
1581
1587
- First recorded Protestant service in the Americas: Christening of Manteo (Croatan).[3]
17th century
1610s
1615
- The Huron people first act as middlemen for French traders and other Native American tribes.[7]
1620s
1660s
1663
- First published writing by a Native American in the Americas: Honoratissimi Benefactores by Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck (Wampanoag).[10]
- First Bible published in the Americas: The Eliot Indian Bible is printed in Natick and one of the translators, James Printer (Nipmuc) became the first Native American to use a printing press.[11]
1665
- First Native American graduate of Harvard University: Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck (Wampanoag).[12]
18th century
1770s
1772
- First published literary work by a Native American: A Sermon Preached at the Execution of Moses Paul, an Indian by Samson Occom (Mohegan).[10]
1775
- First Native American businesswoman: Sally Ainse (Oneida) who started a fur-trading business.[16]
1790s
1794
- First Native American report of other Native American peoples: A Short Narration of My Last Journey to the Western Country by Hendrick Aupaumut (Mohican).[10]
19th century
1810s
1812
- First Native American commissioned brigadier general in the United States Army: William McIntosh (Muscogee).[17]
1820s
1822
- First Native American admitted to West Point and first Native American graduate: David Moniac (Muscogee).[18]
1825
- First Iroquois person to create a written account of the oral traditions of the Iroquois Nation: David Cusick (Tuscarora) in Sketches of the Ancient History of the Six Nations.[19]
- First Cherokee syllabary is adopted by the Cherokee Nation: created by Sequoyah (Cherokee).[20]
1827
- The Cherokee Nation adopts its first modern constitution.[21]
1828
- First Native American newspaper and first newspaper published in an Indigenous language: The Cherokee Phoenix.[22] First editor of the paper was Buck Watie (Cherokee).[22]
1829
- First full-length autobiography published by a Native American: A Son of the Forest by William Apess (Pequot).[23]
- First book published using the Cherokee syllabary: Cherokee Hymn Book printed by Elias Boudinot (Cherokee) and a New England missionary.[24]
1840s
1844
- First known Native American person to earn a medical degree: Wa-o-wa-wa-na-onk (Cayuga).[25]
1845
- First music composition published by a Native American person: Indian Melodies by Thomas Commuck (Narragansett).[26]
1847
- First full-length travelog by a Native American: The Life, History, and Travels of Kah-ge-ga-gah-bowh by George Copway (Ojibwe).[23]
1850s
1854
- First novel published by a Native American: The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murietta by John Rollin Ridge (Cherokee).[27]
- First Native American student periodical publication, A Wreath of Cherokee Rose Buds.[28]
1856
- First governor of the Chickasaw Nation after the adoption of the new constitution: Cyrus Harris (Chickasaw).[29]
- First Native American ordained as a Roman Catholic priest: James Bouchard (Lenape).[30]
1857
- First Native American editor of non-native publication: John Rollin Ridge (Cherokee) who was the founding editor of the Sacramento Bee.[28]
1860s
1861
1865
- First person to ride the Chisholm Trail: Jesse Chisholm (Cherokee).[32]
1867
- First Native American to earn the rank of brigadier general in the U.S. Army: Ely Samuel Parker (Seneca).[33]
1869
- First Native American to be awarded the Medal of Honor: Co-Rux-Te-Chod-Ish (Pawnee).[34]
- First Native American to work as the Commissioner for Indian Affairs: Ely Samuel Parker (Seneca).[35]
1870s
1870
1875
- First independent Cherokee-owned newspaper published: The Indian Progress and owned by Elias C. Boudinot (Cherokee).[37]
1878
1879
- First Native American declared "a person within the meaning of the law" in the United States: Standing Bear (Ponca).[39]
1880s
1881
- First Native American anthropologist: Francis La Flesche (Omaha).[40]
1883
- First Native American woman to publish a book, Sarah Winnemucca (Northern Paiute), who published Life Among the Piutes: Their Wrongs and Claims.[41]
1886
- First privately owned Chippewa periodical: The Progress founded by Theodore H. Beaulieu and Gustave Beaulieu (Chippewa/Ojibwe).[42]
1889
- First Native American woman to earn a medical degree: Susan La Flesche (Omaha).[41]
- First documented Native American U.S. Army nurses: Susan Bordeaux, Ella Clark, Anna B. Pleets, Josephine Two Bears (all Lakota).[43]
1890s
1891
- First novel written by a Native American woman: Wynema: A Child of the Forest by Sophia Alice Callahan (Muscogee).[44]
1892
- First Native American elected to the United States House of Representatives: Charles D. Curtis (Kaw Nation).[36]
1893
- First independent periodical published by and for the Osage people: The Wah-sha-she founded by George E. Tinker (Osage).[42]
- First Native American woman to publish and edit a newspaper: Norma E. Standley Smiser (Choctaw).[42]
1897
- First Native American to play on a major league baseball team: Louis Sockalexis (Penobscot).[45]
1898
- First Native American to graduate from Stanford University: John Milton Oskison (Cherokee).[46]
20th century
1900s
1903
1906
- First arts program created for Native Americans: Leupp Art Department at the Carlisle Indian School, created by Angel DeCora Dietz (Ho-Chunk).[48]
1908
- First tribal newspaper published for the Quileute people: The Quileute Independent created by Webster Hudson (Quileute).[47]
- First paniolos to win at the Frontier Days rodeo competition: Ikua Purdy (Native Hawaiian), Archie Ka'au'a (Native Hawaiian), and Jack Low (Native Hawaiian).[49]
1909
- First Native American film actor: James Young Deer (Winnebago).[50]
1910s
1910
- First Native American to graduate from Yale: Henry Roe Cloud (Ho-Chunk).[51]
1911
- First organization for Native Americans with only Indigenous people allowed as members: Society of American Indians created by Charles Alexander Eastman (Dakota Sioux).[52]
- First Native American to play in the NFL: Jim Thorpe (Sac and Fox (Sauk).[53]
1912
- First Native American to win gold medals for the United States in the Olympic Games: Jim Thorpe (Sac and Fox (Sauk).[54]
- First American to win an Olympic medal (silver) in the 10,000 meter run: Louis Tewanima (Hopi).[55]
1913
- First Native American to attend the United States Naval Academy: Joseph J. Clark (Cherokee).[18]
- First person to reach the summit of Denali: Walter Harper (Athabascan).[56]
- First Native American head coach of a college sports team: Albert Andrew Exendine (Lenape).[57]
1916
- First American Indian Day celebrated in May 1916. The day was created by Red Fox James (Blackfeet Nation).[58]
1918
- First Native language used in military communications: Choctaw language.[59]
1920s
1921
- First all-Native American National Guard: Haskell unit of the Kansas National Guard.[60]
- First Native American woman pilot: Bessie Coleman (Cherokee heritage).[61]
1922
- First Native American student to take part in a world conference: Ruth Muskrat Bronson (Cherokee).[62]
- First woman to serve as chief of the Seminole tribe: Alice Brown Davis (Seminole).[63]
1923
- First chair of the Navajo Tribal Council: Henry Chee Dodge (Navajo).[63]
1924
- First Navajo person to earn a law degree: Thomas Henry Dodge (Navajo).[64]
- First all-Native American cavalry created in the United States: Troop C, 114th Cavalry.[65]
- First Native American to captain the United States Hockey Team: Clarence Able (Chippewa).[66]
- First Native American woman elected to a state legislature: Cora Belle Reynolds Anderson (Chippewa).[67]
- First Alaska Native elected to the Alaskan Territorial Legislature: William L. Paul (Tlingit).[56]
- First Native American to carry the United States flag at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games: Clarence "Taffy" Abel (Chippewa).[55]
1926
- First Native American woman to hold state office in Oklahoma: Jessie Elizabeth Randolph Moore (Chickasaw).[68]
- First national reform group with only Native American membership: National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) by Zitkala-Sa (Yankton Sioux) and Raymond Bonnin (Yankton Sioux).[52]
1927
- First Native American to earn a degree as a registered nurse: Susie Walking Bear Yellowtail (Crow).[69]
1929
- First Native American to serve as Vice President of the United States: Charles D. Curtis (Kaw Nation).[70]
1930s
1930
- First accredited nursing program for Native Americans: Sage Memorial Hospital School of Nursing.[71]
- First enrolled Native American woman to earn a pilot's license: Mary Riddle (Clatsop/Quinault).[72]
1932
- First Native American woman elected to the Montana State Legislature: Dolly Smith Akers (Assiniboine).[68]
- First Native American to open the Olympic Games: Charles D. Curtis (Kaw Nation).[66]
1935
- First Native American woman elected as president of the General Federation of Women's Clubs: Roberta Campbell Lawson (Lenape).[62][73]
1939
1940s
1941
- First Native American commissioned in the American Chaplain Corps: James C. Ottipoby (Comanche).[75]
1942
- First Native American to become a major general in the U.S. Air Force: Clarence L. Tinker (Osage).[76]
- First American to dance with the Paris Opera and receive the title of prima ballerina: Maria Tallchief (Osage).[77]
- First Native American woman to work for Lockheed, and probably first Native American woman engineer: Mary Golda Ross (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma).[78]
- First Native American commissioned pilot in the United States Navy: Tom Oxendine (Lumbee).[79]
1943
- First Navajo language newspaper: Adahooniligii.[80]
- First Native American venerated as a saint by the Roman Catholic church: Kateri Tekakwitha (Mohawk).[81]
- First Native American woman joins the Marine Corps Women's Reserve: Minnie Spotted-Wolf (Blackfoot).[82]
1944
- First Muscogee person to earn the Medal of Honor: Ernest Childers.[83]
- First Choctaw person to earn the Medal of Honor: Van T. Barfoot.[84]
- First and only Native American WASP: Ola Mildred Rexroat (Oglala).[85]
1945
- First Cherokee to earn the Medal of Honor: Jack Montgomery.[86]
- First anti-discrimination law passed in the United States: The Alaska Equal Rights Act of 1945, ending segregation of Alaska Natives.[87]
1948
- First public monument in the United States created by a Native American: Comrade in Mourning by Allan Houser (Chiricahua Apache).[75]
1949
- First Hopi to earn the Indian Achievement Award from the Indian Council Fire: Fred Kabotie.[88]
1950s
1950
- First Native American veterinarian: Bernard Anthony Hoehner (Standing Rock Sioux).[89]
1952
- First Hawaiian to be awarded the Medal of Honor: Herbert Kaili Pililaau (Native Hawaiian).[75]
1953
- First Indian Miss America: Arlene Wesley James (Yakama).[90]
1954
- First foreign recognition of Native American art, Pablita Velarde (Santa Clara Pueblo) for her work by the French government.[91]
1956
- First Native American dentist: George Blue Spruce (Laguna).[89]
- First Native American oncologist: James W. Hampton (Chickasaw/Choctaw).[71]
1957
- First Native American to have a comic strip published: Brummett Echo Hawk (Pawnee) with Little Chief.[92][93]
- First Native American elected to the Idaho State Legislature: Joseph R. Garry (Coeur d'Alene).[68]
- First radio station to primarily broadcast in Navajo language: KNDN-AM.[94]
1958
- First Native American to graduate from the United States Air Force Academy: Leo Johnson (unknown tribal affiliation).[18]
1959
- First woman president of the Mescalero Apache tribe: Virginia S. Klinekole (Mescalero Apache).[95]
1960s
1960
1961
- First Native American elected to the U.S. Congress from South Dakota: Benjamin Reifel (Lakota Sioux).[98]
1962
- First Alaska Native newspaper: The Tundra Times with Howard Rock (Inupiaq) as the first editor.[56]
1963
- First Native American to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom: Annie Dodge Wauneka (Navajo).[90]
1964
- First Native American elected to the New Mexico House of Representatives: James D. Atcitty (Navajo).[99]
- First Native American on the United States Olympic Judo Team: Benjamin Nighthorse Campbell (Northern Cheyenne).[66]
- First Native American to win an Olympic gold medal in the 10,000 meter run: William Mervin "Billy" Mills (Oglala Lakota).[55]
- First Native American to earn a doctorate in psychology: Marigold Linton, from UCLA (Morongo Band of Mission Indians)[100]
1966
- First Native American elected as New Mexico state senator: Tom Lee (Navajo).[99]
- First Native American elected to the Arizona House of Representatives: Lloyd Lynn House (Navajo/Oneida).[99]
- First Native American man to earn a doctorate in psychology: Arthur McDonald (Oglala Lakota).[71]
1967
- First ballet written specifically for Native American dancers: Four Moons which was scored by Louis Ballard (Quapaw/Cherokee).[101]
- First woman to chair the Seminole Tribe Council: Betty Mae Tiger Jumper (Seminole Tribe of Florida).[95]
1968
- First "confrontational" Native American rights organization: The American Indian Movement (AIM).[102]
- First college run by Native Americans for Native Americans: Diné College (formerly Navajo Community College).[103]
1969
- First Native American to receive a Pulitzer Prize: N. Scott Momaday (Kiowa/Cherokee).[104]
- First Native American to become a public school district superintendent: Henry Gatewood (Navajo).[105]
- First Native American to work as Indian Commissioner on the Indian Claims Commission: Brantley Blue (Lumbee).[98]
- First Native American publication published only by women: The Council of Women.[106]
1970s
1970
1971
- First Native American job corps center founded: The Kicking Horse Regional Manpower Center.[107]
- First Native American elected to the North Dakota state legislature: Arthur Raymond (Dakota Sioux/Oglala).[108]
- First national organization to unite sitting tribal leaders: National Tribal Chairmen's Association (NTCA).[109]
- First Navajo to earn a doctorate in physics: Fred Begay (Navajo).[110]
1972
- First Native American owned and operated non-commercial radio station for Native American listeners: KTDB-FM.[111]
- First Native American on the United States Women's Table Tennis National Team: Angelita Rosal (Sioux).[31]
- First foreign-born sumo wrestler to win the top division championship: Takamiyama Daigorō (Native Hawaiian).[112]
- First induction ceremony of the American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame.[112]
1973
- First Native American bank president and president of first national Indian bank: Barney Old Coyote (Crow) founded the American Indian National Bank.[107]
- First Native American train engineer: Barnie Botone (Blackfoot/Kiowa).[113]
1974
- First Alaska Native to win the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race: Carl Huntington (Athabascan).[112]
- First Native American band to reach the top five on the Billboard Hot 100: Redbone with "Come and Get Your Love" at number 5.[114]
1975
- First artist chosen by the Museum of the American Indian for a series on modern Native American art: R. C. Gorman (Navajo).[115]
- First Native American practitioner of an Indigenous religion to give the invocation at the United States Senate: Frank Fools Crow (Lakota Sioux).[116]
- First Native American woman dentist: Jessica Rickert (Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation).[117]
- First woman to chair the Yavapai-Apache Tribe: Vera Brown Starr (Yavapai-Apache).[95]
- First tribally owned and built golf course is opened by the Mescalero Apache Tribe.[112]
1976
- First American Indian Studies master's degree program established by Charlotte Anne Wilson Heth (Cherokee).[118]
- First Jicarilla Apache woman to earn a doctorate degree: Veronica Velarde Tiller.[119]
- First radio station broadcasting in the Navajo language and under Navajo control: The Navajo Radio Network.[111]
- First chairperson of the Fort Sill Apache Tribe: Mildred Cleghorn (Fort Sill Apache).[95]
- First Alaska Native to become a physician: Ted Mala (Inupiaq).[120]
1977
- First Inuit Circumpoloar Conference takes place.[121]
1978
- First Native American artist to display their work in China: Joan Hill (Muscogee).[115]
- First woman to serve as chair of the Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes: Juanita L. Learned (Cheyenne-Arapaho).[95]
- First Native American to earn a fellowship from the National Institute of Mental Health and the American Psychiatric Association: Catharine Gail Kincaid (Eastern Sioux).[122]
1980s
1980
- First Native American woman nominated for Vice President of the United States in any political party: LaDonna Harris (Comanche).[67]
1981
- First Native American woman to graduate from the United States Naval Academy: Sandra L. Hinds (unknown tribal affiliation).[123]
- First American to direct the Paris Opera ballet: Rosella Hightower (Choctaw).[101]
1982
- First Native American elected to the Colorado House of Representatives: Benjamin Nighthorse Campbell (Cheyenne).[108]
- First Native American woman to graduate from the United States Air Force Academy: Dolores K. Smith (Cherokee).[123]
- First Native American director of Indian Health Services (IHS): Everett R. Rhoades (Kiowa).[124]
- First tribe to open an electric plant: Warm Spring Indians in Oregon.[125]
1983
- First woman to work as attorney general for the Navajo Nation: Claudeen Bates Arthur (Navajo).[126]
- First Native American woman to argue a successful case before the Supreme Court of the United States: Arlinda Faye Locklear (Lumbee).[127]
- First anthology of Native American women's art and literature is published: A Gathering of Spirit: A Collection by North American Women edited by Beth Brant (Mohawk).[104]
- First television documentary produced by a crew of all-Indigenous people: I'd Rather Be Powwowing, directed by Larry Littlebird (Santo Domigo Pueblo).[128]
- First Minnesota Ojibwe Nation woman to become a doctor: Kathleen Annette (Ojibwe).[129]
1984
- First Alaska Native woman to earn a doctorate degree: Elizabeth Anne Parent (Athabascan).[119]
- First Native American woman to graduate from West Point: Brigitte T. Wahwassuck (unknown tribal affiliation).[123]
1985
- First woman to become a Cherokee Nation principal chief: Wilma Mankiller (Cherokee).[130]
- First Native American to receive the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for race relations: Clifford Bahniptewa (Hopi).[131]
1986
- First Native American ordained as Roman Catholic bishop: Donald E. Pelotte (Abenaki).[132]
- First public recognition of the military service of the Choctaw code talkers.[133]
- First American Indian Week celebrated during the week of November 23–30.[134]
1987
- First Native American to become a fellow of the MacArthur Foundation: Leslie Marmon Silko (Laguna Pueblo).[135]
- First Native American woman named as Ms. magazine's Woman of the Year: Wilma Mankiller (Cherokee).[136]
- First community-owned and operated clinic established on an Indian reservation: Porcupine Clinic by Loralei DeCora (Winnebago).[136]
- First radio news service to cover Native American issues: National Native News (NNN).[137]
- First woman to elected as governor of the Isleta Pueblo: Verna Williamson (Isleta Pueblo).[138]
- First woman in the Eastern Band of Cherokee to become a physician: Frances Owl-Smith (Cherokee).[139]
1988
- First woman elected as tribal chair of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa: Twila Martin-Kehahbah (Chippewa-Cree).[138]
- First Tuscarora Indian woman to become a surgeon: Susan Veronica Karol (Tuscarora Indian Nation of Sanborn).[140]
1989
- First book of poetry in Navajo is published by Rex Lee Jim (Navajo).[141]
- First Native American news reporter on national television: Hattie Kauffman (Nez Percé).[142]
- First Native American in Nevada to become a physician: Sharon M. Malotte (Shoshone).[143]
1990s
1990
- First Native American to win in a World Chess Championship open: Jason Stevens (Navajo).[144]
- First Native American Month celebrated in November.[134]
1991
- First Native American to receive the Freeman Tilden Award from the National Park Service and the National Parks and Conservation Association: Wilson Hunter (Navajo).[145]
- First Native American state attorney general: Larry Echo Hawk (Pawnee).[108]
1993
1994
- First Native American to work as U.S. Marshall in the Justice Department: Robert D. Ecoffey (Oglala Lakota Sioux).[126]
- First Navajo woman board certified in surgery: Lori Arviso Alvord (Navajo).[146]
1995
- First Native American artwork travels in space: Don Montileaux's (Lakota Sioux) painting is on board the Endeavor.[147]
- First woman to serve as principal chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians: Joyce Dugan (Cherokee).[138]
- First Native American woman to play professional basketball for a foreign nation: Ryneldi Becenti (Navajo).[112]
1996
- First Native American woman elected to the New Mexico House of Representatives: Lynda Morgan Lovejoy (Navajo).[148]
- First Native American participant in the Paralympics: Cheri Madsen (Omaha).[149]
1997
- First Native American women elected to the Arizona House of Representatives: Sally Ann Gonzales (Yaqui) and Debora Norris (Navajo).[148]
- First Native American to be awarded the Award for Excellence from the American Public Health Association: Linda Burhansstipanov (Cherokee).[150]
- First Native American archbishop: Charles J. Chaput[151] (Prairie Band Potawatomi)[152][153]
1998
- First national awards for Native American music: Native American Music Awards (NAMA).[154]
- First literary and artistic journal for Native Hawaiians: 'Ōiwi: A Native Hawaiian Journal founded by D. Mahealani Dudoit (Native Hawaiian).[155]
1999
21st century
2000s
2000
- First Native American president of the American Public Health Association: Michael E. Bird (Santo Domingo and San Juan Pueblo).[150]
- First Native American woman to graduate from Yale University School of Medicine: Patricia Nez Henderson (Navajo).[157]
2001
- First Native Hawaiian drafted by Major League Soccer: Brian Ching (Native Hawaiian).[158]
- First Native American to compete in the Indy 500: Cory Wetherill (Navajo).[158]
2002
- First Native American in space: John Herrington (Chickasaw Nation).[58]
- First Native American woman to compete in the Winter Olympics: Naomi Lang (Karuk)[55]
2003
- First tribe to own a professional sports team: The Mohegan Tribe purchases the Connecticut Sun.[158]
- First Native American woman killed in combat in a foreign war: Lori Piestewa (Hopi).[133]
2004
- First woman to serve as president of the tribal council for the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation: Cecelia Fire Thunder (Oglala Lakota).[138]
- First woman tribal chair of the White Earth Band of Chippewa: Erma Vizenor (Ojibwe).[138]
- First national museum of Native American history and culture: National Museum of the American Indian.[159]
2005
- First tribe to purchase a professional men's basketball team: The Yakima Nation buys the Yakima SunKings.[158]
2006
- First woman to serve as chief of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma: Glenna Wallace (Shawnee).[138]
- First awards announced in the American Indian Youth Literature Awards.[160]
2007
- First Native American president of the American Library Association: Loriene Roy.[161][162][163] (Anishinabe, a member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, and enrolled on the White Earth Reservation).[164]
2008
- First Native American woman elected to a statewide executive office: Denise Juneau (Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation).[67]
- First Native American to win the Heisman Trophy: Sam Bradford (Cherokee).[158]
2010s
2010
- First woman to become a chief of the Delaware Tribe of Oklahoma: Paula Pechonick (Lenape).[138]
- First Native American nominated for the United States Poet Laureate: Linda Hogan (Chickasaw).[155]
2011
- First Native American drafted into the WNBA: Tahnee Robinson (Cheyenne).[165]
- First woman chief of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians: Phyliss J. Anderson (Choctaw).[138]
2014
- First Native American named a United States Ambassador to the United Nations: Keith Harper (Cherokee Nation).[166]
- First Native American woman to become a federal judge in the United States: Diane Humetewa (Hopi).[167]
2015
- First Native American-owned cannabis shop: Elevation, opened by the Squaxin Island Tribe.[168]
2016
- First Native American to receive an electoral vote for President of the United States: Faith Spotted Eagle (Yankton Sioux Tribe)[169]
- First Native American woman to receive an electoral vote for Vice President of the United States: Winona LaDuke (White Earth Band of Ojibwe)[170]
2017
- First Native-American to serve in the Wyoming State Senate: Affie Ellis (Navajo).[171]
2018
- First Native American women elected to the United States Congress: Sharice Davids (Ho-Chunk) and Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo).[67]
- First Native American to serve as a law clerk for the Supreme Court of the United States: Tobi Merrit Edwards Young (Chickasaw Nation).[172]
- First distillery owned by Native Americans: Copper Crow.[173]
2019
- First Native American to earn an honorary award from the Academy Awards: Wes Studi (Cherokee).[174]
- First Native American United States Poet Laureate: Joy Harjo (Mvskoke/Creek Nation).[175]
- First delegate to the United States House of Representatives from the Cherokee Nation: Kimberly Teehee (Cherokee).[176]
- First American nationally distributed children's show to feature an Alaska Native as the lead character: Molly of Denali, premiered in 2019[177]
2020s
2020
- First Native American woman to head the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts (SWAIA): Kim Peone (Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation/Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians).[178]
- First painting on canvas by a Native American artist in the National Gallery of Art: "I See Red: Target", by Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes)[179]
- First Native American to compete in the Tour de France: Neilson Powless (Oneida).[180][181]
- First U.S. tribe to contribute heirloom seeds to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault: the Cherokee Nation.[182]
- First Native American openly transgender person elected to office in America: Stephanie Byers, elected to the Kansas state House of Representatives (Chickasaw Nation).[183]
- First Alaska Native to be featured on United States currency: Elizabeth Peratrovich (Tlingit).[184]
2021
- First Native American to win a Caldecott Medal: Michaela Goade for We Are Water Protectors (Tlingit and Haida tribes).[185]
See also
References
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