The National Native American Hall of Fame has inducted eight new inductees for 2021.
They include:
- Dave Anderson, Ojibwe. A businessman and entrepreneur, Anderson established a national restaurant franchise, Famous Dave’s BBQ, served as head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and was CEO of the Lac Courte Oreilles tribal enterprises.
- Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Northern Cheyenne. Campbell served in the U.S. Senate for many years and was the first Native American to chair the Indian Affairs Committee.
- Joy Harjo, Muscogee (Creek). Harjo was the first Native American named U.S. poet laureate in 2019. She has received two National Endowment for the Arts fellowships.
- Marcella LeBeau, Cheyenne River Sioux. LeBeau served during WWII with the U.S. Army Nurse Corps, winning six distinguished service medals. A leader in health policy, she served on the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Council from 1991 to 1995.
- Emil Notti, Athabascan leader. Notti was the first president of the Alaska Federation of Natives. He helped bring about the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971, which authorized Alaska Natives to receive 44 million acres of public land in Alaska and a $962 million land claims settlement.
- Katherine Siva Saubel, Cahuilla. A language preservationist, Saubel founded the Malki Museum at the Morongo Reservation in Southern California—the first Native American museum created and managed by Indians. She served as tribal chairwoman of the Cahuilla tribe.
- Ernie Stevens Sr., Oneida. A Korean War veteran, Stevens was executive director of the Inter-Tribal Council of California and first vice president of the National Congress of American Indians. He was also the first staff director to the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs and served on the Bureau of Indian Affairs. His son, Ernie Stevens Jr., is the longtime chairman of the National Indian Gaming Association.
- Richard West Jr., Southern Cheyenne. West is the founding director of the National Museum of the American Indian. He helped found the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian and guided the founding and development of museum’s Cultural Resources Center Maryland, George Gustav Heye Center in New York City, and of the NMAI on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
The induction ceremony will be held November 6.
