Indigenous Firsts

This book profiles Native Americans who were first in their fields or who reached notable milestones. The roster ranges from Medal of Honor recipients, Heisman Trophy winners and U.S. Olympians to a U.S. vice president, members of Congress, NASA astronauts, Pulitzer Prize and Oscar winners, and U.S. poet laureates. Its pages also reach into less expected corners of public life: the first Native magician, an all-Native comedy show, code talkers, inventors, and people working as architects, attorneys, bloggers, chefs, cartoonists, psychologists, religious leaders, filmmakers, educators and physicians.

Well-known figures such as Jim Thorpe, King Kamehameha, Debra Haaland and Will Rogers appear alongside less familiar names. Among them are Larry Lindsey Kimura, a Native Hawaiian language professor and radio host, and Dr. Kona Williams, a forensic pathologist of Cree and Mohawk heritage. Each account shows how individuals reached their goals despite the obstacles they faced.

Under the title Indigenous: A History of Native American Achievements and Events, the volume covers some 2,000 other people, events and places alongside these life stories. More than 200 photographs and illustrations accompany the text, and the book closes with a bibliography and a detailed index. It will suit readers interested in American history and in the Indigenous peoples who have shaped it.