Native American Firsts

A
celebration of achievement, accomplishments, and courage!







Native
American Medal of Honor recipients, Heisman Trophy recipients, U.S.
Olympians, a U.S. vice president, Congressional representatives, NASA
astronauts, Pulitzer Prize recipients, U.S. poet laureates, Oscar
winners, and more. The first Native magician, all-Native comedy show,
architects, attorneys, bloggers, chefs, cartoonists, psychologists,
religious leaders, filmmakers, educators, physicians, code talkers,
and inventors. Luminaries like Jim Thorpe, King Kamehameha, Debra
Haaland, and Will Rogers, along with less familiar notables such as
Native Hawaiian language professor and radio host Larry Lindsey
Kimura and Cree/Mohawk forensic pathologist Dr. Kona Williams. Their
stories plus the stories of more than 900 other people and places are
presented in Native
American Firsts: A History of Indigenous Achievement,
including ...









Suzanne
Van Cooten, Ph.D., Chickasaw Nation, the
first Native female meteorologist in the country




Caleb
Cheeshahteaumuck, Wampanoag from Martha's Vineyard, graduate of
Harvard College in 1665




Debra
Haaland, the Pueblo of Laguna, U.S. Congresswoman and Secretary of
the Interior




Sam
Campos, the Native Hawaiian who developed the Hawaiian superhero
Pineapple Man


Thomas
L. Sloan, Omaha, was the first Native American to argue a case
before the U.S. Supreme Court




William
R. Pogue, Choctaw, astronaut


Johnston
Murray, Chickasaw, the first person of Native American descent to be
elected governor in the United States, holding the office in
Oklahoma from 1951 to 1955




The
Cherokee Phoenix
published its first edition February 21, 1828, making it the first
tribal newspaper in North America and the first to be published in
an Indigenous language


Kane
Brown, Cherokee descent, the first artist to have simultaneous hits
on all five main Billboard country charts




Louis
Sockalexis, Penobscot, became the first Native American in the
National Baseball League in 1897 as an outfielder with the Cleveland
Spiders


Jock
Soto, Navajo/Puerto Rican, the youngest-ever man to be the principal
dancer with the New York City Ballet


Pocahontas,
Powhatan, honored on a U.S. postage stamp


Warrior's
Circle of Honor,
the National Native American Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC, on
the grounds of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American
Indian


The
Iolani Palace, constructed 1879-1882, the home of the Hawaiian
royal family in Honolulu


Loriene
Roy, Anishinaabe, White Earth Nation, professor at the University of
Texas at Austin's School of Information, former president of the
American Library Association


Ben
Nighthorse Campbell, Northern Cheyenne, U.S. representative and U.S.
senator from Colorado


Hanay
Geiogamah, Kiowa /Delaware, founded the American Indian Theatre
Ensemble


Gerald
Vizenor, White Earth Nation, writer, literary critic, and journalist
for the Minneapolis Tribune


Ely
S. Parker (Hasanoanda, later Donehogawa), Tonawanda Seneca,
lieutenant colonel in the Union Army, serving as General Ulysses S.
Grant's military secretary


Fritz
Scholder, Luiseno, painter inducted into the California Hall of Fame


The
Native American Women Warriors, the first all Native American female
color guard


Lori
Arviso Alvord, the first Navajo woman to become a board-certified
surgeon


Kay
"Kaibah" C. Bennett, Navajo, teacher, author, and the first
woman to run for the presidency of the Navajo Nation


Sandra
Sunrising Osawa, Makah Indian Nation, the first Native American to
have a series on commercial television


The
Choctaw people's 1847 donation to aid the Irish people suffering
from the great famine


Otakuye
Conroy-Ben, Oglala Lakota, first to get an environmental engineering
Ph.D. at the University of Arizona


Diane
J. Willis, Kiowa, former President of the Society of Pediatric
Psychology and founding editor of the Journal
of Pediatric Psychology


Shelly
Niro, Mohawk, winner of Canada's top photography prize, the
Scotiabank Photography Award


Loren
Leman, Alutiiq/Russian-Polish, was the first Alaska Native elected
lieutenant governor


Kim
TallBear, Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, the first recipient of the Canada
Research Chair in Indigenous Peoples, Technoscience, and Environment


Carissa
Moore, Native Hawaiian, won the Gold Medal in Surfing at the 2020
Tokyo Olympics


Will
Rogers, Cherokee, actor, performer, humorist was named the first
honorary mayor of Beverly Hills


Foods
of the Southwest Indian Nations
by Lois Ellen Frank, Kiowa, was the first Native American cookbook
to win the James Beard Award


Diane
Humetewa, Hopi, nominated by President Barack Obama, became the
first Native American woman to serve as a federal judge


Susie
Walking Bear Yellowtail, Crow, the first Native American nurse to be
inducted into the American Nursing Association Hall of Fame




Native
American Firsts
honors the ongoing and rich history of personal victories and
triumphs, and with
more than 200 photos and illustrations, this information-rich book
also includes a helpful bibliography and an extensive index, adding
to its usefulness. This vital collection will appeal to anyone
interested in America's amazing history and its resilient and
skilled Indigenous people.