Suzan Shown Harjo
Encyclopedia
Suzan Shown Harjo is a well-known Cheyenne
and Hodulgee Muscogee
advocate for American Indian rights. She is a poet, writer, lecturer, curator, and policy advocate, who has helped Native peoples recover over a million acres (4,000 km²) of land. She serves as President of the Morning Star Institute, a national Native American rights organization based in Washington, D.C.
and lived on her Muscogee family's allotment near Beggs, Oklahoma
. Her great-grandfather was the Cheyenne Chief Bull Bear.
Between the ages of 12 and 16 she lived in Naples
, Italy
where her father was stationed while in the US Army
. Upon her return to the States, Harjo moved to New York City
, where she worked in radio and the theater.
In 1978 President Jimmy Carter
appointed her a congressional liaison for Indian Affairs. Harjo has been involved in major advances in US federal Indian policy, and served as the Executive Director of the National Congress of American Indians
from 1984 to 1989.
She has also spoken out against the negative portrayals of Native Americans in movies and television. One of Harjo's biggest concerns is the decline in health clinics on reservations and the subsequent higher mortality rate amongst Native Americans.
Harjo is outspoken against author Ward Churchill
's controversial claim of Native American ancestry and has publicly denounced him.
She has appeared on many television programs including The Oprah Winfrey Show
, C-Span
, and Larry King Live
. She has been the president of the Morning Star Institute in Washington D.C. since 1984. Harjo is also a columnist for the newspaper Indian Country Today.
; the 1989 National Museum of the American Indian
Act; the 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act
(NAGPRA), which allows tribes to reclaim their human remains and ceremonial items from publicly funded institutions; and the 1996 Executive Order of Indian Sacred Sites.
Along with seven Native plaintiffs, including Vine Deloria, Jr.
and Mateo Romero, Suzan Shown Harjo was a party in Harjo et al v. Pro Football, Inc.
, filed on September 12, 1992 with the US Patent and Trademark Office
(PTO) Trademark Trial and Appeal Board
(TTAB) to cancel the registration of the Washington Redskins
football
team, as the name was disparaging to Native American
s. The three PTO judges unanimously ruled in favor of the Native Americans plaintiffs. However, Pro Football appealed to the United States District Court, which ruled against the plaintiffs on the question of lache
s. The US Supreme Court declined the plaintiff's petition for judicial review
and refused to hear the Native American group's appeal. This case was followed by Blackhorse et al v. Pro Football , in which six young Native American plaintiffs challenged the federal trademark licenses of the Washington football team's disparaging name.
The Morning Star Institute organized the National Prayer Day for Sacred Places, which in 2009 fell on June 22, and the 1992 Alliance, which addressed the Native response to the Quincentennial of Columbus' arrival in the Americas.
Distinguished Indigenous Scholar at the University of Arizona
. The School for Advanced Research
(SAR), in Santa Fe, New Mexico
, awarded her two back-to-back fellowships in 2004, the Dobkin Artist Fellowship for Poetry and the Summer Scholar Fellowship. At SAR, Harjo chaired two seminars, about Native Identity and Native Women's Cultural Matters. At the University of Pennsylvania Museum in 2006, she chaired a seminar on US Civilization and Native Identity Policies.
in the 1970s, Harjo wrote the poem "gathering rites" and read it at "Women/Voices at Town Hall" in New York City, where she was one of 20 American women writers, including Alice Walker
and Nikki Giovanni
. Harjo also presented the poem on the West Steps of the US Capitol.
As an Eric and Barbara Dobkin Fellow and an IARC Summer School at the School for Advanced Research in 2004, Harjo developed oral history
poetry about her experiences working for repatriation laws and policies.
with her late husband Frank Ray Harjo,
and a daughter, Adriane Shown Deveney, actor, artist, poet, with her late husband, artist, John Alan Shown.
Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes
The Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes are a united, federally recognized tribe of Southern Arapaho and Southern Cheyenne people in western Oklahoma.-History:...
and Hodulgee Muscogee
Muscogee (Creek) Nation
The Muscogee Nation is a federally recognized tribe of Muscogee people, also known as the Creek, based in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. They are regarded as one of the historical Five Civilized Tribes and call themselves Este Mvskokvlke...
advocate for American Indian rights. She is a poet, writer, lecturer, curator, and policy advocate, who has helped Native peoples recover over a million acres (4,000 km²) of land. She serves as President of the Morning Star Institute, a national Native American rights organization based in Washington, D.C.
Early years
Harjo was born on June 2, 1945 in El Reno, OklahomaEl Reno, Oklahoma
El Reno is a city in Canadian County, Oklahoma, United States, in the central part of the state. A part of the Oklahoma City Metropolitan Statistical Area, El Reno is west of downtown Oklahoma City...
and lived on her Muscogee family's allotment near Beggs, Oklahoma
Beggs, Oklahoma
Beggs is a city in Okmulgee County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 1,364 at the 2000 census. Beggs was named for C.H. Beggs, vice president of the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway.-Geography:...
. Her great-grandfather was the Cheyenne Chief Bull Bear.
Between the ages of 12 and 16 she lived in Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
where her father was stationed while in the US Army
Army
An army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
. Upon her return to the States, Harjo moved to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, where she worked in radio and the theater.
Activism
The roots of her activism date from the mid-1960s, when she produced "Seeing Red," a bi-weekly radio program on New York's WBAI FM station which was the first Indian news show in the United States. Harjo moved to Washington D.C. in 1974.In 1978 President Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
appointed her a congressional liaison for Indian Affairs. Harjo has been involved in major advances in US federal Indian policy, and served as the Executive Director of the National Congress of American Indians
National Congress of American Indians
The National Congress of American Indians is a American Indian and Alaska Native indigenous rights organization. It was founded in 1944 in response to termination and assimilation policies that the U.S. government forced upon the tribal governments in contradiction of their treaty rights and...
from 1984 to 1989.
She has also spoken out against the negative portrayals of Native Americans in movies and television. One of Harjo's biggest concerns is the decline in health clinics on reservations and the subsequent higher mortality rate amongst Native Americans.
Harjo is outspoken against author Ward Churchill
Ward Churchill
Ward LeRoy Churchill is an author and political activist. He was a professor of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder from 1990 to 2007. The primary focus of his work is on the historical treatment of political dissenters and Native Americans by the United States government...
's controversial claim of Native American ancestry and has publicly denounced him.
She has appeared on many television programs including The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show is an American syndicated talk show hosted and produced by its namesake Oprah Winfrey. It ran nationally for 25 seasons beginning in 1986, before concluding in 2011. It is the highest-rated talk show in American television history....
, C-Span
C-SPAN
C-SPAN , an acronym for Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network, is an American cable television network that offers coverage of federal government proceedings and other public affairs programming via its three television channels , one radio station and a group of websites that provide streaming...
, and Larry King Live
Larry King Live
Larry King Live is an American talk show hosted by Larry King on CNN from 1985 to 2010. It was CNN's most watched and longest-running program, with over one million viewers nightly....
. She has been the president of the Morning Star Institute in Washington D.C. since 1984. Harjo is also a columnist for the newspaper Indian Country Today.
Federal laws
Harjo developed important federal laws protecting Native sovereignty, arts and cultures, language, and human rights. These include the 1978 American Indian Religious Freedom ActAmerican Indian Religious Freedom Act
The American Indian Religious Freedom Act, Public Law No. 95-341, 92 Stat. 469 , codified at , is a United States federal law and a joint resolution of Congress that was passed in 1978. It was enacted to protect and preserve the traditional religious rights and cultural practices of American...
; the 1989 National Museum of the American Indian
National Museum of the American Indian
The National Museum of the American Indian is a museum operated under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution that is dedicated to the life, languages, literature, history, and arts of the native Americans of the Western Hemisphere...
Act; the 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act
Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act
The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act , Pub. L. 101-601, 25 U.S.C. 3001 et seq., 104 Stat. 3048, is a United States federal law passed on 16 November 1990 requiring federal agencies and institutions that receive federal funding to return Native American "cultural items" to...
(NAGPRA), which allows tribes to reclaim their human remains and ceremonial items from publicly funded institutions; and the 1996 Executive Order of Indian Sacred Sites.
Morning Star Institute
A president of the Morning Star Institute, founded in 1984, Harjo promotes traditional cultural rights, artistic expression, and research. The organization sponsors Just Good Sports, devoted to ending stereotypes.Along with seven Native plaintiffs, including Vine Deloria, Jr.
Vine Deloria, Jr.
Vine Deloria, Jr. was an American Indian author, theologian, historian, and activist. He was widely known for his book Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto , which helped generate national attention to Native American issues in the same year as the Alcatraz-Red Power Movement...
and Mateo Romero, Suzan Shown Harjo was a party in Harjo et al v. Pro Football, Inc.
Harjo et al v. Pro Football, Inc.
Harjo et al v. Pro-Football, Inc. v. , 30 U.S.P.Q.2d 1828, 1833, 1994 WL 262249, was a case before the United States Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, regarding six trademarks that contain or are derived from the word Redskins registered with the Patent and Trademark Office.-Trademark Trial and...
, filed on September 12, 1992 with the US Patent and Trademark Office
Patent and Trademark Office
The Patent and Trademark Office may refer to:* the United States Patent and Trademark Office * the German Patent and Trademark Office...
(PTO) Trademark Trial and Appeal Board
Trademark Trial and Appeal Board
The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board is a body within the United States Patent and Trademark Office responsible for hearing and deciding certain kinds of cases involving trademarks. These include appeals from decisions by USPTO Examiners denying registration of marks, and opposition proceedings...
(TTAB) to cancel the registration of the Washington Redskins
Washington Redskins
The Washington Redskins are a professional American football team and members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team plays at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, while its headquarters and training facility are at Redskin Park in Ashburn,...
football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
team, as the name was disparaging to Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
s. The three PTO judges unanimously ruled in favor of the Native Americans plaintiffs. However, Pro Football appealed to the United States District Court, which ruled against the plaintiffs on the question of lache
Laches (equity)
Laches is an "unreasonable delay pursuing a right or claim...in a way that prejudices the [opposing] party" When asserted in litigation, it is an equitable defense, or doctrine...
s. The US Supreme Court declined the plaintiff's petition for judicial review
Judicial review
Judicial review is the doctrine under which legislative and executive actions are subject to review by the judiciary. Specific courts with judicial review power must annul the acts of the state when it finds them incompatible with a higher authority...
and refused to hear the Native American group's appeal. This case was followed by Blackhorse et al v. Pro Football , in which six young Native American plaintiffs challenged the federal trademark licenses of the Washington football team's disparaging name.
The Morning Star Institute organized the National Prayer Day for Sacred Places, which in 2009 fell on June 22, and the 1992 Alliance, which addressed the Native response to the Quincentennial of Columbus' arrival in the Americas.
Scholarship
In 2008, Harjo became the first Vine Deloria, Jr.Vine Deloria, Jr.
Vine Deloria, Jr. was an American Indian author, theologian, historian, and activist. He was widely known for his book Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto , which helped generate national attention to Native American issues in the same year as the Alcatraz-Red Power Movement...
Distinguished Indigenous Scholar at the University of Arizona
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...
. The School for Advanced Research
School for Advanced Research
The School for Advanced Research on the Human Experience , until 2007 known as the School of American Research and originally founded in 1907 as the School for American Archaeology , is an advanced research center located in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA...
(SAR), in Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is the fourth-largest city in the state and is the seat of . Santa Fe had a population of 67,947 in the 2010 census...
, awarded her two back-to-back fellowships in 2004, the Dobkin Artist Fellowship for Poetry and the Summer Scholar Fellowship. At SAR, Harjo chaired two seminars, about Native Identity and Native Women's Cultural Matters. At the University of Pennsylvania Museum in 2006, she chaired a seminar on US Civilization and Native Identity Policies.
Writing
Harjo first published her poetry in an Italian magazine, when she was 12 years old. "I began writing poetry because of the poetics and density of Cheyenne and Muscogee oral history as related by my Cheyenne mother and her parents and my Muscogee father and his parents," says Harjo. For the first International Women's DayInternational Women's Day
International Women's Day , originally called International Working Women’s Day, is marked on March 8 every year. In different regions the focus of the celebrations ranges from general celebration of respect, appreciation and love towards women to a celebration for women's economic, political and...
in the 1970s, Harjo wrote the poem "gathering rites" and read it at "Women/Voices at Town Hall" in New York City, where she was one of 20 American women writers, including Alice Walker
Alice Walker
Alice Malsenior Walker is an American author, poet, and activist. She has written both fiction and essays about race and gender...
and Nikki Giovanni
Nikki Giovanni
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni is an American poet, writer, commentator, activist, and educator. Her primary focus is on the individual and the power one has to make a difference in oneself and in the lives of others. Giovanni’s poetry expresses strong racial pride, respect for family, and her...
. Harjo also presented the poem on the West Steps of the US Capitol.
As an Eric and Barbara Dobkin Fellow and an IARC Summer School at the School for Advanced Research in 2004, Harjo developed oral history
Oral history
Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews...
poetry about her experiences working for repatriation laws and policies.
Personal life
She has a son, Duke Harjo, graduate of Reed CollegeReed College
Reed College is a private, independent, liberal arts college located in southeast Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus located in Portland's Eastmoreland neighborhood, featuring architecture based on the Tudor-Gothic style, and a forested canyon wilderness...
with her late husband Frank Ray Harjo,
and a daughter, Adriane Shown Deveney, actor, artist, poet, with her late husband, artist, John Alan Shown.
Published by Suzan Shown Harjo
- Article by Suzan Shown Harjo
- Statement for the Oversight Hearing on Native American Sacred Places
- Romero, Mateo and Suzan Shown Harjo. Painting the Underworld Sky: Cultural Expression and Subversion in Art. Santa Fe, NM: SAR Press, 2006. ISBN 978-1930618794
External links
- Indian Country article on Suzan Shown Harjo
- Harjo's poetry on Beltway quarterly
- "Nobody Gives Us Sovereignty: Busting Stereotypes & Walking the Walk." Video of lecture at University of Arizona.