Suzan Shown Harjo Biography

Poet, author, educator, curator, and policy advocate Suzan Shown Harjo has assisted Native Peoples in reclaiming more than one million acres of land and other holy sites. Since 1975, she has drafted significant pieces of federal Indian law, including the 1996 Executive Order on Indian Sacred Sites, the 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, the 1989 National Museum of the American Indian Act, and the 1978 American Indian Religious Freedom Act, which are among the most significant national policy developments for the preservation of Native American cultures and arts. Harjo is the president and executive director of The Morning Star Institute, a national organization for Native rights established in 1984 to advocate, promote, and research Native Peoples' traditional and cultural practices. Morning Star is a pioneer in the preservation of cultural property and the dispelling of stereotypes. It supports the Just Good Sports initiative, plans the National Day of Prayer to Protect Native American Sacred Places, and oversaw The 1992 Alliance (1990-1993). One of the seven well-known Native Americans who filed Harjo et al. v. Pro Football, Inc. before the US Patent & Trademark Board in 1992 to challenge the Washington football team's name is Harjo. They triumphed in 1999 when a three-judge court unanimously ruled to remove the team's name from federal protections because it "may insult Native Americans and bring them into contempt or ridicule." The US Court of Appeals is now hearing the case after the District Court overturned their win in 2003. Team Spirits: The Native American Mascots Controversy contains an article by Harjo titled "Fighting Name-Calling: Challenging the 'Redskins' in Court" (the University of Nebraska Press, 2001). She served as a trustee for the predecessor museum and collection of the National Museum of the American Indian from 1980 to 1990. She also served as the organization's first chair of the program planning committee and was the primary author of the policies on exhibits (1994), Indian identity (1993), and repatriation (1993) of the NMAI (1991). She is presently a member of NMAI's Advisory Committee on Seminars & Symposiums and the third season's moderator of the NMAI Native Writers Series after serving as director of the Native Languages Archives Repository Project for NMAI from 2004 to 2005. Suzan Shown Harjo served as the leading exhibition's guest curator from 1996 to 1997 at the Peabody Essex Museum, and her curatorial article is included in the show's acclaimed publication, Gifts of the Spirit: Works by Nineteenth-Century & Contemporary Native American Artists (traveling exhibit, Eitlejorg Museum, 1998). She organized "Visions from Native America," the first Native art exhibition ever shown in the US Senate and House Rotundas, as well as "Healing Art," the 1998–2000 exhibition at the American Psychological Association in Washington, DC (1992). She curated three print gallery exhibits for Native Americas Journal, including "Native Images in American Editorial Cartoons" (2001), "New Native Warrior Images in Art" (2001), and "Identity Perspectives by Native Artists." She also curated a magazine exhibit of 9/11 art by Native artists (Native Peoples, 2002). (2002). As the 2001 Tulsa Indian Art Festival's honorary guest, Harjo co-founded Indian Art Northwest and served as its judge's committee chair (1997–2000). She also judged the first Native American Initiative at the Sundance Institute, the Lawrence Indian Art Show, and the Red Earth Film & Video Competition. She co-chaired "Our Visions: The Next 500 Years" (Taos, 1992). She also serves on the Canadian Banff Centre's Aboriginal Program Council (2005-present).

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