Shawnee leader Tecumseh aimed to create a sovereign Indigenous state in the Midwest, uniting all Indigenous people against colonizers, but his mission failed, and he died in 1813, influencing the later American Indian Movement.
Oglala Sioux chief Red Cloud halted a road construction by settlers in Montana, signed a treaty securing land for his people, and later campaigned for Indigenous rights, dying in 1909 at Pine Ridge Reservation.
Edmonia Lewis, one of the first Black professional sculptors, broke racial and gender barriers with works in major museums like the Smithsonian, including her famous "The Death of Cleopatra," and died in 1907.
Susan La Flesche Picotte, the first Indigenous person to earn a medical degree, opened the Omaha reservation's first hospital in 1913 and was commemorated for bridging Indigenous roots with Euro-American medical education.
Indigenous sculptor Allan Houser, descended from legendary Apache leader Geronimo, was commissioned by the U.S. government for murals, received the National Medal of Arts in 1992, and has his statue "Swift Messenger" in President Biden's Oval Office.
Jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker, born to a Black father and Indigenous mother, influenced American culture with his bebop style, collaborated with Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie, and his legacy is celebrated by the American Jazz Museum.
Osage Nation ballerina Maria Tallchief became one of America's most revered dancers, was the first American to perform at the Paris Opera Ballet, co-founded the Chicago City Ballet, and was posthumously inducted into the National Native American Hall of Fame.
Mildred Loving, of Black and Indigenous descent, challenged interracial marriage bans in Loving v. Virginia, leading to the legalization of interracial marriage in 1967, though her multiracial heritage was often overlooked.