Native American Obituaries

Dennis Banks, a founder of the American Indian Movement who helped lead demonstrations — notably the 10-week siege at Wounded Knee, S.D., in 1973 — that at times descended into violence as they brought long-festering tribal wounds to national attention, died Oct. 29 at a hospital in Rochester, Minn. He was 80.

Wahacanka Peltier, the youngest child of imprisoned Leonard Peltier, walked on while on a trip to the nation’s capital where hundreds are gathering this weekend in a prayer vigil to free his father. Wahacanka Peltier was 41.

A prominent Kicked In The Belly chief, war leader, and reservation-era chief, Joseph “Joe” Medicine Crow was a Crow Elder, the last surviving war chief of the Crow tribe, tribal historian, and the first of his tribe to become a university educated anthropologist. Medicine Crow died Sunday, April 3, 2016 at the age of 102 at a hospice house in Billings, Montana. A half-sister, Louella Whiteman Runs Him Johnson, confirmed his death and said she did not know the cause.

On December 8, 2015, American Indian activist, spoken word artist and poet, actor and visionary John Trudell walked on surrounded by his family and friends at his home in Santa Clara County, California, after a battle with cancer. He was 69.

The language he once was punished for speaking in school became Chester Nez’s primary weapon in World War II. He was the last surviving Navajo Code Talker.

Ruth Ziolkowski, who has died aged 87 after a prolonged struggle with cancer, spent much of her life helping her husband, the Polish-American sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski, to achieve his dream of transforming a mountain in the Black Hills of South Dakota into a colossal sculpture depicting the 19th-century Oglala Lakota war chief Crazy Horse.

Folk singer and activist Richie Havens, Blackfeet, died at his home in Jersey City, New Jersey, on April 22. He was 72 years old. Havens will always be remembered as the opening act at the Woodstock music festival in 1969.

Russell C. Means, the charismatic Oglala Sioux who helped revive the warrior image of the American Indian in the 1970s with guerrilla-tactic protests that called attention to the nation’s history of injustices against its indigenous peoples, died on Monday, October 29, 2012, at his ranch in Porcupine, S.D., on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. He was 72.

Gwen Westerman Griffin of Mankato, MN announced today that Floyd Red Crow Westerman passed to the spirit world this morning about 5:00 a.m. in Los Angeles, California, at Cedars Sinai Hospital with family at his side after an extended illness. He was 71.

Vernon Bellecourt, long time leader of the American Indian Movement (AIM) passed away today at about 2:45pm in Minnesota. He was one of the earliest and most active members of AIM and a prominent spokesman for the organization, and one of the finest orators of his time. Vernon Bellecourt was a leader in AIM actions […]