National Hall of Fame for Famous American Indians should not be confused with National Native American Hall of Fame.
National Hall of Fame for Famous American Indians should not be confused with Hall of Fame for Great Americans.
| National Hall of Fame for Famous American Indians | |
| Established: | 1952 |
| Visitors: | ca. 400,000 per year |
The National Hall of Fame for Famous American Indians (also known as American Indian Hall of Fame), established in 1952 in Anadarko, Oklahoma, was the first Hall of Fame for Native Americans founded in the US, is part of a complex representing American Indian life. The National Hall of Fame has bronze busts mounted outdoors.[1] The Hall of Fame, which has free admission and is staffed by volunteers, features busts of 41 Native Americans from various tribes to honor their contributions and place in American history.[2] [3]
Founding Chairperson from 1952, Logan Billingsley, told the Orlando Sentinel in 1960, "It's time we stopped painting eerie pictures of the Indian in our school history books. Historians should write more truth about the American Indian and give more credit to some who were great Americans."[4]
Also in Anadarko is the Southern Plains Indian Museum, which features highly-skilled arts and crafts of contemporary and historic artists from both the local Plains tribes, as well as other American Indians relocated to present-day Oklahoma in the 19th century, such as the Delaware, Caddo, Southeastern Woodlands tribes, and others. The museum was established in 1947 and features changing exhibitions and sales of art.
American Indians inducted into the Hall have included figures nationally known who never lived in Indian Territory, as well as those associated with Oklahoma during their lives. Among the American Indians inducted into the Hall have been
Other figures include war chiefs from the Indian wars:
There are also busts of Stand Watie and John Ross, Cherokee chiefs who took different sides in the American Civil War, Confederate and Union, respectively. Another military figure is Maj. Gen. Clarence L. Tinker (Osage), the highest-ranking army officer of Indian ancestry.[5]
Four women, spanning colonial, 19th-century and contemporary times, were also inducted: