Prominent Author and Activist to Deliver Native American History Month Convocation at Carleton College

Suzan Harjo, a well known Cheyenne and Hoduglee Muscogee advocate for Native American rights, will deliver the weekly convocation at Carleton College at 10:50 a.m. on Friday, October 29 in the Skinner Memorial Chapel. President since 1984 of the Morning Star Institute, the oldest and largest Native American advocacy organization in the country, Harjo has been a key figure in many important legal and legislative battles concerning indigenous rights over the past three decades, most notably helping native peoples recover more than one million acres of land. Harjo’s presentation, entitled “Treaties and Other Promises: Words Matter and Keeping One’s Word Matters More,” celebrates Native American History Month and is free and open to the public.

Harjo was at the forefront of the controversy regarding Native American mascots of many national sports teams, acting as one of the plaintiffs in Harjo et al v. Pro Football, Inc. filed in 1992, which disputed the name of the Washington Redskins. Her work in the federal government also speaks for itself, as President Jimmy Carter appointed Harjo a congressional liaison for Indian affairs in 1978. Since then, she has been involved in major advances concerning federal Indian policy, including the 1978 American Indian Religious Freedom Act, the 1989 National Museum of the American Indian Act, and the 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. Many recognize Harjo’s efforts to be the most important advances in the modern era regarding the protection of Native American culture and arts.

In addition to working as news director of the American Indian Press Association, Harjo is a columnist for Indian Country Today, the nation’s leading Native American newspaper; her commentary and poetry are also widely published. She was a founding trustee of the National Museum of the American Indian, which opened its first facility in New York City in 1994, followed by a second in Washington, D.C., in 2004. Harjo continues to direct The Morning Star Institute in its mission to protect the rights of Native Americans and lobby the federal government to honor past treaties or contracts that it has entered into with many tribal nations. 

For more information regarding the convocation, including disability accommodations, please contact the Carleton College Office of College Relations at (507) 222-4309. The Skinner Memorial Chapel is located on First Street between College and Winona Streets in Northfield, on the Carleton College campus.