A revered tribal leader was born on the Pine Ridge Reservation the same year South Dakota became a state in 1889. He studied at Carlisle Indian College in Pennsylvania where he excelled in sports. He learned the coronet and played for Woodrow Wilson's inauguration. In the last 20 years of his life, Holy Eagle was outspoken in support of Lakota issues.

Arval Looking Horse is the “Keeper of the Sacred Pipe,” a position of spiritual leadership among the Lakota people. He is the 19th generation of his family to receive this designation, which is handed down through dreams and visions. He has traveled the world on behalf of the Lakota people and represented Native Americans in a prayer service at the united Nations before the Gulf War in January, 1991. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of South Dakota in 1992. Arval lives with his wife and daughter on the Cheyenne River Reservation.                    

Noah and Martin Broken Leg, father and son, are priests in the Episcopal Church. Noah Broken Leg was born on the fairgrounds at Rosebud during a pow wow on July 4, 1913. His father was a Lakota medicine man. After spending many years as an x-ray technician, Noah entered the seminary and was ordained in 1962 at the age of 45. Martin Broken Leg attended Shattuck Military School in Minnesota; he then enrolled in the Weston School of Theology in Cambridge, Mass. He was ordained in 1971.

Rancher Wayne Ducheneaux was chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe from 1986 to 1990. He also completed a two year term as president of the National Congress of American Indians in 1991. He was appointed Special Tribal Judge in 1991.

Joe Flying Bye is a Dakota medicine man living in Little Eagle, South Dakota, on the Standing Rock Reservation. He learned his craft as a boy when he served as a guide for his blind grandfather, the holy man, Sun Dreamer. “I was born and raised among medicine men. I’ve seen what they do. I’ve seen my grandfather. He asked me to help him do things. He said, “Grandson, you’re going to wear my white bonnet,” meaning the white hair at old age. I walk in my grandfather’s ways. Today I stand as
a medicine man.”

Tim Giago is the founder of The Lakota Times, the only independent, Indian-owned weekly newspaper in the United States. In 1991, The New York Times became a stockholder in The Lakota Times, providing financial and technical support. In 1993, it was renamed Indian Country Today, reflecting its national scope on Native American issues. Giago has a syndicated, weekly column in more than 20 newspapers nationwide.

Mary Hall has been a counselor at the Cultural Center of Brandon University in Canada since 1978. She was born on Canada's Oak river Reservation, where the people are descendants of Sitting Bull, and had eight children. After dropping out of school in eighth grade, she returned to school at age 39, received her high school equivalency and graduated from college with a degree in social work. She and her husband, Solomon, have been active in reviving many traditional ceremonies, including the Sun Dance. They still live on the Oak River Reservation in Sioux Valley in Manitoba, Canada.

Norman Hallow has been on the Fr. Peck Assiniboine Sioux tribal council for 47 years. For 12 of those years he was tribal chairman. One of his major accomplishments as tribal chairman was the 1973 establishment of the Assiniboine and Sioux Manufacturing Company, a successful effort to bring industry and jobs to the reservation. He negotiated oil and gas rights on tribal lands and created the potential for the tribe to tap into the natural gas line that crosses the reservation. He also taxed the railroads that cross the reservations. In 1986 he was recognized as "Small Businessman of the Year" by the regional Small Business Administration. His avocation is raising quarter horses on his ranch near Fr. Kipp, Montana.

Alex Lunderman was chairman of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. He entered tribal politics only after he had a vision in 1979 calling him to leadership for his people. His dream is that the tribe will someday be a sovereign nation. In 1988, he barred the South Dakota State Patrol from entering the reservation in a jurisdictional dispute. The move was eventually upheld by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. He lives with his extended family near Ring Thunder, South Dakota.

Russell Means is an activist who has been a driving force in the American Indian Movement (AIM) since its earliest days in the 1960’s. He was a leader in the occupation of the Wounded Knee site in 1973 and received what he calls his “Ph.D. in White Studies” while serving a year-long jail term in the South Dakota state penitentiary.

He founded Yellow Thunder Camp, an alternative spiritual and educational youth village in the Black Hills. He ran for the presidency of the United States in 1987 and has been widely interviewed for television and in publications. He recently appeared in the movie The Last of the Mohicans.

Dr. Bea Medicine is an anthropologist. A lifelong teacher and prolific writer, who has spent her professional life teaching at colleges and universities around the United States and Canada. She retired in 1988 from her position as associate professor of anthropology at California State University but continues with her research and writing. She lives near Wakpala on the Standing Rock Reservation where she was born.

At the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, Billy Mills thrilled the world by winning the gold Medal in the 10,000-meter race. More than his stunning upset victory, Billy’s many accomplishments and work on behalf of Native Americans are an inspiration for all people. The production of his life in the movie Running Brave is a contemporary giveaway to the world. Billy’s book, Wokini, is an allegorical how-to journey to happiness. Raised on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, Billy lives with his wife, Pat Mills, and family in Sacramento, California

Lloyd One Star was born Lloyd Brown Hat in a tent on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota. His family held a ceremony at home to give him an honored family name, "One Star," while he was overseas during World War II. He helped organize the "Burnt Thigh Truth Keepers Society" in 1960 to preserve the language and culture of the Lakota. He served as an actor, translator and consultant during the filming of A Man Called Horse. He taught Lakota at St. Francis Indian School and hosted a daily program on KINI, the Lakota radio station in St. Francis, South Dakota.

Rosebud artist Bobby Penn is recognized nationally. His works are included in permanent collections at the Smithsonian, the Minneapolis Institute of Art and others. Penn studied under renowned Sioux artist Oscar Howe, whom he credits as his greatest inspiration. He has taught at colleges and universities and now pursues his art full time. His art reflects his South Dakota background, traditional Native American symbolism and a lifelong study of new methods and techniques.

Actor, songwriter, folk singer and activist, Westerman is most widely known for his role as Ten Bears in Dances With Wolves. He considers acting a way to portray Indian people more sensitively. He travels the world "as a patriot of the Dakota nation" defending Indian rights against "American oppression." Living in Palm Springs, California, he returns often to his Dakota Sioux roots.

Ever since she was a young girl, Alice New Holy has created porcupine quill work, a traditional Lakota art form. To complete the intricate works porcupine quills must be dyed and made into medicine wheels, breast plates, Pipes and other items used in Lakota ceremonies. In 1985, she was selected for a National Heritage Fellowship Award by the National Endowment for the Arts.