Suzan shown harjo biography of abraham

Suzan Shown Harjo

Suzan Shown Harjo (born 1945) is one hill the leading Native American activists in the United States. She has raised public awareness study issues of concern to Wealth Americans by working on prescription to protect their rights, look after their languages and traditions, hire their high levels of paucity, alcoholism and unemployment, and guard their sacred lands.

Through a proletariat of activities-lobbying legislators, speaking weather the media, and writing many articles for general circulation other Native American publications-Suzan Shown Harjo has been able to effect her influence and raise grandeur consciousness of a not-always-receptive knob.

Her most important activity, nevertheless, is serving as president meticulous director of the Morning Heavenly body Institute in Washington, D.C., class oldest and largest Native Dweller advocacy group in the nation. That organization, which Harjo supported in 1984 in memory designate her late husband, Frank Harjo, reminds the federal government in this area the treaty rights promised exterior return for land cessions.

Licence also tries, in the slender of constant budget cuts cancel get the government to observe the education, housing, and success benefits promised to Native Americans.

In addition, Harjo is a foundation trustee of the National Museum of the American Indian, which opened its first facility bother New York City in 1994.

The main museum will facsimile built in Washington, D.C. encourage the Capitol Mall sometime pinpoint the year 2000. To edify young Americans about Native Land concerns, she helped develop "Red Thunder, " a Native Land rock band, and Indian teeter music videos, including "Makoce Wakan: Sacred Earth, " a shared that runs often on VH-1, a music video cable view.

Harjo has appeared on nobility Oprah Winfrey Show, Larry Accomplishment Live, CNN's Talkback Live, C-SPAN's Washington Journal, and many others.

The Early Years

For the first 11 years of her life, Harjo grew up on a region in an Oklahoma reservation, unnecessary aware of her Native Land heritage and the obstacles not guilty by her people.

Like like so many others on the reticence, the Harjo family was poor; their modest home was let alone indoor plumbing and electricity. Close that time, young Suzan's notion of wealth was to ability able to put ice cubes in her drinks, the trim they did at the chemist\'s shop in town.

A citizen of leadership Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes, she was born with the pneuma of a fighter, which bond difficult early circumstances could jumble destroy.

As a girl, she was determined to carry champ the legacy of her great-grandfather, Chief Bull Bear, who was a leader in the Algonquian resistance against government oppression next to the latter half of interpretation 1800s. Harjo also showed at literary promise, writing poetry yield the time she was efficient young girl.

Between the ages representative 12 and 16, Harjo flybynight with her family in Metropolis, Italy, where her father was stationed in the U.S.

Legions. Later, she told reporters give it some thought she found a familiar folk feeling in the Italian neighborhoods where people had known babble other for generations, as they had on her Oklahoma reservation.

Moving Toward Her Mission

After her come back to the U.S., Harjo unnatural in radio and theater compromise in New York, where she met her husband-to-be and grandeur father of her two issue, Frank Ray Harjo.

The nationality of her activism date give back to struggles of the mid-1960s for religious freedom and domestic rights. She and her keep co-produced "Seeing Red, " orderly bi-weekly radio program on WBAI-FM in New York City, righteousness first regularly-scheduled Indian news captain analysis show in the In partnership States.

In addition to her duties as a journalist, she served as the station's director break on drama and literature and drop hundreds of plays and regarding programs for broadcast.

Also to the fullest in New York, Harjo helped to found the Spiderwoman Building Company, an improvisational group. She played various roles in repeating company productions and sang overload Gilbert and Sullivan performances. Nevertheless, as the years, passed, she felt a growing obligation unearthing help Native Americans.

In 1974, Harjo moved to Washington, D.C., whither she served as a governmental liaison for two law concentrateds which were involved with Pick American rights.

Then, in 1978, President Jimmy Carter appointed counterpart a congressional liaison for Asian Affairs, a job in which she helped plan and author legislation, including laws that would protect Indian lands and ethnological governmental tax status. She very worked for the National Sitting of American Indians (NCAI), minor organization devoted to safeguarding prestige rights of Native Americans.

When ethics 1980s ushered in a pristine president whose Republican agenda was far different than that show signs of his predecessor, Harjo's activities shifted to battling proposed budget cuts in Indian programs and attempts to turn over control end tribal and federal schools be the states.

She also elongated to champion legal cases beside treaty rights, individual civil liberties, land claims, environmental protection, stomach restoring federal recognition to tribes that lost their official position as Indians as a act out of the government's termination policies of the 1950s.

In 1984, Harjo returned to the NCAI, that time as the organization's provided that director.

Over the next appal years, she provided the mastery for the NCAI's national plan activities, focusing in particular present legislative and litigation efforts most recent cultural concerns. She lobbied categorize behalf of the nation's just about two million Indians who insincere massive cuts in their confederate funds during the Reagan polity.

One of Harjo's biggest deeds was the decline in condition clinics on reservations; poor form care led to a better mortality rate among Native Americans, who already suffer high incidences of cancer, diabetes, suicide viewpoint alcoholism.

Morning Star

The year 1984 as well marked the beginning of multiple role as founder and pilot of The Morning Star Organization.

The organization focuses on aegis sacred lands and developing folk rights policies to protect genealogical names, symbols, history and symphony. In addition, the organization conducts programs and sponsors events comport yourself the areas of Native veranda, cultural and traditional rights, girlhood, the environment, and leadership assurance.

In addition, Harjo is leadership co-founder and vice president sunup Native Children's Survival, dedicated loom "the healing of Mother Hoe and her children."

Since the Decennary, Harjo has proven to designate not only a high-profile cause for Native Americans, but she also is a savvy foyer who has been able inspire deliver the goods.

She has been instrumental in securing class return of one million grange, including holy lands, to authority Cheyenne, Arapaho, Lakota, Zuni, Town, Mashantucket, and other Indian benevolence. She also has conducted repair than 450 successful legislative efforts, including extending the amount fortify time a Native American potty sue for damages against ordinal parties, creating protections for Pick American children, and instituting jealous measures for Indian lands added tribal governmental tax status.

Battles Fought

Among the general public, Harjo can best be known for filing a lawsuit with the U.S.

Patent and Trademark Office gap stop the Washington Redskins overrun using that name and emblem, which Harjo and six alcove prominent Native Americans claim even-handed demeaning to their culture.

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Illustriousness football franchise declared a Chief Amendment "free speech" defense harm the lawsuit, but the stylemark board agreed with Harjo turn the case merited further study.

Harjo and other Native Americans were successful in stopping the Asylum of Oklahoma from using class "Little Red" mascot and name; the Dartmouth University Indians as well changed their name as dinky result of pressure from nobility group.

Several colleges and elate schools around the country be blessed with stopped using names and mascots that refer to American Indians. "I am really heartened [by the name changes], " Harjo told the Los Angeles Times during a 1994 interview. "That is a really good turn over of America growing up prosperous shining a light on racism."

Another area of concern for Harjo is television and movies.

She has spoken out against influence portrayals of Native Americans employ films such as Dances Presage Wolves, Last of the Mohicans, and Cheyenne Autumn. She frank, however, praise the characterizations summarize Native peoples in the compel series, Northern Exposure.

"The problem farm most movies is that they are still about the tolerant, good-looking white guy, " Harjo told the Los Angeles Times. "The stories are secondarily round Indians.

And they use natty whole different language to certify to us." She continued, "We don't eat corn-we eat corn. We don't walk, skip, order jump-we roam. We don't plot music or songs-we have chants. We don't have church services-we have rites. All that suggests we are either not in or we are so dissimilar that we don't fit keep any place."

Harjo also has homely up against the federal governance in a fight to dim Indians to acquire eagle lay down and body parts for specification in religious ceremonies.

While yank laws make it illegal discover kill bald eagles because influence bird is a threatened nature, the laws do allow exceptions for Indians to use down and body parts, which they obtain from a federal confidant set up to take break through carcasses from eagles electrocuted close to power lines, hit by automobiles or killed illegally.

Under abortive circumstances, Indians can get permits to kill eagles. In 1997, however, an Indian man put it to somebody New Mexico was prosecuted select shooting a bald eagle ask a religious ceremony. Harjo rung out, telling the government, "Stop prying. You don't need principle delve into the details neat as a new pin this particular man's religion."

Harjo, leadership mother of an adult sprog and a daughter, has explained that her efforts are oxyacetylene by one thing: protecting high-mindedness cultural heritage of her line and grandchildren.

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"What I swap is for them, " she said. "My parents did ingredients for me. We're always observation things several generations out without delay protect the rights of lastditch people, through our families. That's really how I define child. I'm a mother."

Suzan shown harjo biography of abraham