12 Untold Stories of Native American Heroes

Native American heroes you should know

There’s so much Native American history that has yet to be told. While it’s important to understand the truth—and the myths—behind Thanksgiving, it’s just as vital to recognize the Native American heroes who shaped history, many of whom you may never have learned about in school.

Below, we’re highlighting the powerful stories of Native American leaders, activists and trailblazers across generations. These individuals not only fought for their people, traditions and communities but also helped shape the world we live in today.

So keep reading to discover the inspiring stories of Native American heroes whose legacies continue to thrive.

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Sitting Bull

Sitting Bull is known as one of the bravest Native American heroes. He was a chief, leading the Lakota Sioux Nation during the period of U.S. government encroachment across Native lands. Sitting Bull is a legendary hero known for epic courage during battle, even smoking a pipe on the front lines. His early name before he gained this famous moniker was “Jumping Badger” at birth and then “Slow,” because he was quiet and deliberate. His name, translated from “Tatanka-Iyotanka,” first belonged to his father who transferred it to his young son after witnessing his bravery in battle at age 14.

Buffalo Calf Road Woman

Buffalo Calf Road Woman fought beside both her husband and brother in the battles of Rosebud and Little Bighorn in 1876 when U.S. troops attacked Native Americans who wouldn’t cede their territory. She was a young Cheyenne mother who’s known for saving her brother, riding straight into the path of bullets to pull him on her horse and take him to safety—a site still known as “Where the Girl Saved Her Brother.” This Native American hero had a six-shooter, which she fired at soldiers during the brave final stands. She’s believed to have knocked General Custer off his horse, and possibly killed him herself.

Jim Thorpe

In her biography of the heroic athlete, Carrie Golus explains that many Native Americans have two names—one for official documents and another to honor their Native roots. Thorpe’s mother gave him the name “Bright Path,” Wa-Tho-Huck, because she saw streaks of sunlight just after he was born. Both of Thorpe’s parents were mixed race, with Native heritage from several tribes, including the Sauk and Fox. Thorpe became a world-famous athlete, an Olympian in track and field, and a professional baseball, football and basketball player. His medals for epic feats in the 1912 Olympics were rescinded since he had played minor league baseball, though racial discrimination is also thought to have been a factor—one that erased his extraordinary accomplishments. Though his medals were revoked, he would hold the fastest record for the 1,500-meter run until 1972.

Joy Harjo

The poet Joy Harjo is the first Native American (she’s of the Muscogee Creek Nation) to hold the position of U.S. Poet Laureate. Her award-winning poems speak to the experience of Native culture, often invoking ancestors, memory and injustice in motifs such as nature, myth, grief and anger. Though she didn’t start playing music until age 39, the first time she picked up a saxophone, she’s also an accomplished musician who’s released seven award-winning albums.

Osh-Tisch

Native American cultures are known for honoring “two spirit” identity. In Native communities, trans and gender-fluid identities were esteemed and regarded with respect. Osh-Tisch was a Crow “boté” or “Badé,” the term for one assigned a male gender at birth who then chooses to be a woman. Osh-Tisch dressed as a woman, and did traditional women’s work, while also fighting in the battles of Rosebud and Little Big Horn. After those victories, tribes were still confined to reservations and it was there Osh-Tisch was harassed by missionaries, forced to cut her hair and dress in men’s clothes. However, tribal leaders defended Osh-Tisch, demonstrating the sophisticated open-mindedness of Native culture during the Victorian era.

Crazy Horse

Crazy Horse, of the Oglala Lakota tribe, was one of the Native American heroes who played an integral role in the Battle of Little Bighorn, also known as Custer’s Last Stand. His likeness is now carved into a Black Hills mountain at The Crazy Horse Memorial. The famous leader resisted having his photograph taken, often responding to picture requests with “would you imprison my shadow too?” The memorial sculptor created his likeness based on descriptions from those who knew him. The grand visage, cut into granite, intends to honor the Native American values that Crazy Horse fought for and defended.

Susan La Flesche Picotte

From the Omaha tribe, Susan La Flesche Picotte was the first Native American woman doctor. She lived during the mid-1800s and decided to become a doctor when she was just 8 years old. Reportedly, she waited with a sick elderly Native woman who had been told over and over that the local white doctor would come. When he didn’t arrive and the woman died, Picotte became aware that Native lives were less valued. She earned her MD and eventually opened a hospital on a reservation, the first of its kind, where she served patients of every ethnicity.

Geronimo

Geronimo’s mother, wife and three young children were murdered by Mexican marauders in 1851 while he was trading in a nearby town. The famous warrior, a Chiricahua Apache, vowed to take vengeance and succeeded in outfoxing U.S. troops for decades, always evading capture against overwhelming odds. This Native American hero was the last Native American leader to formally surrender to the U.S. government, who immediately reneged on their agreement, and kept him jailed for the rest of his life. He became a popular celebrity and was allowed to attend Theodore Roosevelt’s presidential inauguration in 1905. He used the occasion to ask for the freedom of his people, which was again denied.

Sarah Winnemucca

Sarah Winnemucca was the daughter of the Chief of the Paiutes tribe, who became a writer and educator who advocated for Native rights. In the 1870s, she served as an army scout and an interpreter, and even spoke with President Rutherford B. Hayes, though promises he made to her tribe were never honored. In 1883, she published Life Among the Piutes [sic] in which she called out white people for their own savagery, reappropriating the term often used toward Natives. She also spoke out against sexual assault and corrupt government policy, speaking on the lecture circuit and becoming a prominent and outspoken advocate for Native peoples.

Maria Tallchief

Despite discrimination, Maria Tallchief was the first Native American ballerina. She was a trailblazing woman and a proud member of the Osage tribe who often spoke out against injustice. She refused to change her stage name (which combined parts of her Native names) when asked by professional companies to do so. She danced with the most prestigious ballet companies across the globe.

Mary Golda Ross

Mary Golda Ross co-authored one of NASA‘s handbooks on space travel to Mars and Venus and worked in the secret space race think tank, Skunk Works, where she was the only woman (and the only Native American) on the project. She’s a descendant of Chief Joseph Ross and a member of the Cherokee Nation and played a crucial role in U.S. space exploration as an engineer and mathematician.

John Herrington

The Native American astronaut John Herrington, an enrolled member of the Chickasaw nation, brought his tribe’s flag on his first mission to the International Space Station. NASA considers Herrington the first Native American to travel to space where he completed three space walks—he also brought along cultural artifacts and objects such as eagle feathers, sweetgrass, arrowheads and wooden flutes.

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Sources:

• History: “10 Things You May Not Know About Sitting Bull”
• Montana Women’s History: “A Young Mother at the Rosebud and Little Bighorn Battles”
• Smithsonian Magazine: “Why Are Jim Thorpe’s Olympic Records Still Not Recognized?”
• The New Yorker: “Joy Harjo, the Poet of American Memory”
• Crazy Horse Memorial: “CRAZY HORSE – Tasunke Witco”
• History: “Remembering the First Native American Woman Doctor”
• History: “7 Things You May Not Know About Geronimo”
• National Women’s Hall of Fame: “Sarah Winnemucca”
• American Indian: “Four American Indian Heroes You’ve Never Heard Of”
• National Women’s History Museum: “Maria Tallchief”
• Oklahoma Historical Society: “The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture”