Copyright © 2000 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

**ALEXIE, SHERMAN
Sherman Alexie author and poet was born in October 1966. He was educated at Gonzaga University, Spokane, Washington and Washington State University, Pullman, Washington. Mr. Alexie is an enrolled Spokane, Coeur d'Alene Indian from Willipinit, Washington. "I'm the Indian du jour," Alexie said. "When I was trying to get my book published by the main publishers, I was told they already had their Indian author."

**BIRDWELL, DWIGHT W.
Dwight W. Birdwell was appointed to the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma Judicial Appeals Tribunal in 1987 by Principal Chief Wilma P. Mankiller. Mr. Birdwell served two years (1995-96) as Chief Justice of the JAT (equivilant of the U.S. Supreme Court). In addition to his duties as a Justice, is a practicing lawyer in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

**BRUCHAC, JOSEPH
Joseph Bruchac, Abenaki Indian storyteller and writer, was born in 1942, in Saratoga Springs, New York. A graduate of Cornell University he obtained his Ph.D at the Union Graduate School in 1975. For the last 25 years, Bruchac has been a major voice in Native storytelling and writing, both as a writer/performer and as an editor and publisher of other Natives.

**FORBES, JACK
Jack D. Forbes, Powhatan-Delaware, is a historian, professor of Anthropology and chair of Native American Studies at the University of California, Davis. Mr. Forbes is the author of the column, "Native Intelligence".

**HOGAN, LINDA
Linda Hogan, an award winning poet, novelist and essayist is Chickasaw. She was born in 1947, in Denver, Colorado and grew up in Oklahoma. In 1996 Ms. Hogan won the Colorado Book Award for "The Book of Medicines" and was a finalists for the Pulitzer Prize in 1991 for "Mean Spirit".

**HORN, GABRIEL
Gabriel (White Deer of Autumn) Horn, a Wampanoag Indian, joined the American Indian Movement in 1973. He began teaching in Indian schools, Shoshone in Wyoming, and AIM's Heart of the Earth school in Minneapolis, and wrote several stories and poems. Mr. Horn met his, Simone, Loon Song, at an Indian center in Milwaukee. Their children are named after ancient tribes. After receiving death threats because of his activism and relationship with AIM, he retired back to south Florida, where he teaches at the St. Petersberg Junior College and visits elementary school classrooms. "There is a balance, and we must constantly seek it."

**LADUKE, WINONA
Winona LaDuke lives on the White Earth reservation in Minnesota and is an enrolled member of the Mississippi Band of Anishinaabeg. She is the Project Director of the Honor the Earth Fund and Campaign Director for the White Earth Land Recovery Project. In 1994, LaDuke was named by Time as one of America's 50 most promising leaders under 40 years of age. In the 1996 presidential campaign, she served as Ralph Nader's running mate in the Green Party. In 1997, with the Indigo Girls, she was named a Ms. Woman of the Year. LaDuke received the Reebok Human Rights Award in 1998.

**MANKILLER, WILMA PEARL
Wilma P. Mankiller, served as the principal chief of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma for ten years, from 1985 to 1995, before stepping down due to health concerns just over two years ago. She was the first chief to be elected by the Cherokee people under their own constitution; prior to her term in office, Cherokee chiefs were appointed by the U.S. government. Recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, January 15, 1998.

**MEANS, RUSSELL
Russell Means an Oglala/Lakota was born in 1939, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation near the Black Hills. In the late 60s he became focused and put his energy into fighting for Indian rights with The American Indian Movement. Mr. Means was the first national director of AIM and has remained active with the American Indian Movement. "I am an American Indian, not a Native American!"

**MOMADAY SCOTT, N.
N. Scott Momaday, Kiowa, grew up on the Navajo Reservation, son of Natachee Scott Momaday (Kiawa/Cherokee) who is also an author. Momaday earned his M.A. and Ph.D degrees from Stanford University in 1960 and 1963. Mr. Momaday's writings are greatly influenced by oral tradition and he is recognized as one of the most successful contemporary Native American literary figures. Momaday received a Pulitzer Prize in fiction in 1969 for "House Made of Dawn" and the "Outstanding Indian of the Year Award - 1969". Momaday is also an artist and book illustrator.

**SILKO, LESLIE, MARMON
Leslie Marmon Silko was born 1948, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, of Pueblo, Laguna, Mexican, and white descent. Growing up on the Laguna Pueblo reservation she attended an Indian school and later attended a school in Albuquerque 50 miles away. After high school she went on to attend the University of New Mexico. Silko published her first work, Tony's Story in 1969 and later wrote her first book Laguna Women Poems in 1974.