Dr. Suzan Harjo is Cheyenne and Hodulgee Muscogee, and a tribal citizen of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes.
WASHINGTON, DC-The White House announced on November 10, 2014, that Dr. Suzan Harjo will receive a Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama on November 24 at the White House.
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the Nation's highest civilian honor, presented to individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.
Dr. Harjo is Cheyenne and Hodulgee Muscogee, and a tribal citizen of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes.
Among her many accomplishments, Harjo has worked tirelessly for decades to get sport teams to drop names that promote negative American Indian stereotypes. For three decades, Harjo has worked to have the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office revoke the Washington Redskins filed in September 1992.
In addition to her vast activism on behalf of American Indians, Dr. Harjo is also a writer and curator who has advocated for improving the lives of Native peoples throughout her career.
As a member of the Carter Administration and as current president of the Morning Star Institute, she has been a key figure in many important Indian legislative battles, including the passage of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act and the American Indian Religious Freedom Act.
