Famous Native Americans
Tribal Nations
All in a Name
Traditional Life
Native American Art
100
This woman was the daughter of the chief of the Powhatan people and later married the first governor of the newly established Virginia Colony, John Rolfe. There is an animated children's movie about her life.
Pocahontas
100
Indigenous to the southeastern woodlands of the United States, these people were relocated along what became known as the Trail of Tears.
Cherokee
100
This was the original location of the Plymouth Bay Colony, with the state taking its name from an Algonquin word meaning “great hill, small place” due to the many hills around it's capital city. It was one of the first U.S. Colonies to be established.
Massachusetts
100
This animal was a staple food source for many Native American tribes of the Great Plains and were almost hunted into extinction by European Americans in the 1800s. Later conservation efforts have brought their numbers back up to over 300,000.
American Bison
100
This is a vertical carving of symbols or figures from the trunks of large trees by Native Americans in the northwestern United States. They often depict different animals with symbolic importance.
Totem pole
200
This Shoshone woman guided the Lewis and Clark expedition through the Northwest Territories and is featured on the US dollar coin.
Sacajawea
200
This nation from the American Southwest developed a unique code language used by the U.S. Marines and Radio Operators to transmit secure messages during World War II.
Navajo
200
Now one of the most densely populated locations in the western hemisphere, this borough of New York City takes its name from a Lenape word meaning “thicket containing wood to make bows.”
Manhattan
200
This style of home is a conical tent with smoke flaps at the top used by the Sioux and other Native Americans of the Great Plains. It was traditionally made of animal hides and pelts, although modern ones can be made of canvas.
Tipi/Tepee
200
A form of textile and clothing decoration from quills from this animal was mainly used by Native Americans in the Northern half of the United States. The quills of this spiky animal were often dyed and either wrapped or woven into fabric or animal skin for clothing and other textile products.
Porcupine
300
Without this famous Native American helping them, the Plymouth Colony likely would have found it much more difficult to find food and establish relations with nearby Native tribes. His goodwill inspired the first Thanksgiving.
Squanto/Tisquantum
300
These people lived in the Great Plains and are mainly comprised of two subgroups, the Dakota and the Lakota. Sitting Bull belonged to this Native American nation.
Sioux
300
This state with a panhandle north of Texas gets its name from a Choctaw word meaning “red people.”
Oklahoma
300
This type of boat was invented by Alaskan and Canadian Indigenous Peoples and is a type of canoe, usually with a single or double cockpit. It is lighter and faster than a normal canoe and is paddled with a single double ended oar rather than two separate oars like with a standard canoe. Early forms of this boat were made of seal skins stretched over a wooden or whalebone frame.
Kayak
300
Leaders of many Plains Indian nations wore these, earning the right to do so through selfless acts of courage and honor. The number of eagle feathers on this item represented the number of acts of courage or honor. They have come to be recognized as a symbol of Native American culture in general.
War bonnets/feather headdresses
400
He was a Lakota chief who led resistance to American expansion in the Dakota Territories and defeated Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn. He later worked in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show after surrendering to American Armed Forces.
Sitting Bull
400
The people of this tribe were known to be fierce warriors and strategists and live in the American Southwest and Northern Mexico. Their language is related to that of the Navajo. Geronimo belonged to this tribe.
Apache
400
This Midwestern state means “beautiful river” in Iroquois, referring to the Mississippi tributary of the same name. Its modern day capital city is Columbus.
Ohio
400
This sport is the oldest organized sport native to North America and gained popularity among European Americans and the English-speaking world. It is played with a net on the end of a stick which players use to catch and toss a ball to each other.
Lacrosse
400
This form of passing down information and history was used by many Native American tribes instead of written record-keeping, and required a member of the tribe to rely on their memory to be able to do this for the tribe.
Storytelling/oral history
500
He was a medicine man and warrior chief of the Apache who led numerous raids on United States and Mexican military outposts after the Mexican-American War to prevent the takeover of Apache land.
Geronimo
500
Native Americans from this state include multiple tribes, including the Inuit, Aleut, Yupik, Eyak, and Tlingit. People indigenous to this state are closely related to and had a history of contact with peoples indigenous to Western Russia in Siberia.
Alaska
500
These Northern US states, both North and South, get their name from a Sioux word meaning “allies,” referring to a confederation of tribes that formed there. They contain the landmark Mount Rushmore, which had spiritual importance to the Sioux prior to being carved into a monument to former U.S. Presidents.
North and South Dakota
500
The Three Sisters refer to the three staple agricultural crops of many Native American tribes across North America. The crops are planted together as a form of companion planting, where this tall crop is planted with beans and squash, acting as a pole for the bean plant to climb.
Corn
500
The Cherokee nation used this form of dance as a way to pray for weather that would allow crops to grow, as well as to drive away negative spirits.
Rain dance