Deloria, Vine, Jr (1933-2005)

Standing Rock Sioux educator, writer, lawyer, and activist. Sharply critical of white Americans' traditional treatment of American Indians, he took a law degree in order to fight for the rights of his fellow peoples. Custer Died for Your Sins (1969) gained national recognition.

Born at Pine Ridge, South Dakota into a prominent family descended from a Yankton chief and a French fur trader, he graduated from Iowa State and took a master's degree in theology with the intention of becoming a Lutheran minister. He went on instead to become executive director of the National Congress of American Indians (1964-67), a position that greatly affected his views on the situation of his fellow American Indians. In his writing and teaching at the University of Arizona, he remained to the forefront of those demanding that US governments live up to treaty responsibilities while American Indians be allowed to develop along their own lines.