biography
pronunciation:
[delawria]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1933– )
|
| biography:
| Standing Rock Sioux educator, writer, lawyer, and activist, born at Pine Ridge, South Dakota, USA. Born into a prominent family descended from a Yankton chief and a French fur trader, he spent two years in the US Marine Corps, then studied theology at Iowa State University with the intention of becoming a Lutheran minister. He went on instead to become executive director of the National Congress of American Indians (1964–7), a position that greatly affected his views on the situation of his fellow Native Americans. Deciding to take a more activist role, he took a law degree (1970) and meanwhile gained national recognition with his book, Custer Died for Your Sins (1969), which was sharply critical of white Americans' traditional treatment of Native Americans. From then on, through his books and his teaching at the University of Arizona, he remained in the forefront of those demanding that US governments live up to treaty responsibilities while Native Americans be allowed to develop along their own lines. |
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