As a Mohawk woman, I greatly respect the Indigenous women and men who put their daily lives on hold and endangered their physical and mental well-being to protect the sacred dormant volcano of Mauna Kea in Hawaii, the water systems of Standing Rock Sioux reservation and lands surrounding it, and continue to bring attention to the epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Mirroring the “Instagram vs. reality” trend, the Instagram version of Thanksgiving is a holiday ostensibly about celebrating the joyous harvest feast between colonists of Plymouth and the Wampanoag people, but the reality is much different. Instead, the introduction of the colonists, or Pilgrims, to North America started out with settlements built overtop Wampanoag villages that had been wiped out from the introduction of European illnesses. And the Wampanoag people weren’t invited to the feast—historians believe they heard the colonists shooting their guns in celebration of the bountiful harvest and they came to assist the colonists if there was an attack, and then got a last-minute invite. While some communities now opt to mark the holiday as a National Day of Mourning, instead of Thanksgiving, another option to be an ally is to educate ourselves about the history and current events that activists are battling. In honor of Indigenous Peoples’ Day on Oct. 10, 2022, you can use this time to learn about Indigenous people, issues and life. This is by no means an exhaustive or complete list of Indigenous American activists to follow. There are so many amazing people across Turtle Island who use their social network to educate and highlight, and many more who appear on the frontlines, but not on Instagram. Here are 24 inspiring Indigenous American activist accounts.
Inspiring Indigenous American Activist Accounts To Follow
@autumn.peltier
Autumn Peltier (18) is a chief water commissioner for the Anishinabek Nation, and has been on BBC’s 100 most influential and inspirational women list. She’s understood how important water is since she was 8 years old, advocating for clean drinking water for Indigenous people in Canada.
@repdavids
Representative Sharice Davids is a groundbreaking woman—she’s the first openly LGBTQ member of Congress for Kansas, and one of the first two Native American women elected to Congress. Follow Wisconsin’s Ho-Chunk Nation member’s Instagram account to see the work she’s doing, from homelessness to climate change.
@WinonaLaDuke
In addition to being a well-known Indigenous rights activist, Winona LaDuke focuses on sustainable development and is a farmer. She leads a hemp revolution via her hemp and heritage farm, where she believes that hemp can do anything petroleum can do.
@nativeapprops
Got a question about whether wearing a headdress is cultural appropriation? Quick answer: if you have to ask, it is. Adrienne Keene is the go-to academic and blogger behind the website nativeappropriations.com, which has thoughtfully been explaining why major movie studios, fast fashion chains and fashion designers have erased, or tarnished the image of Indigenous people in inauthentic representations.
@calinalawrence
She’s a singer and activist, and once went to the Oscar awards with Shailene Woodley. Follow her feed for a lived experience of the foster care system, posts from pipeline protests and canoe journeys in solidarity with Mauna Kea.
@lilnativeboy
In this Instagram account from Allen Salway, the 24-year-old Dine, Oglala Lakota from the Navajo Nation posts a lot of his tweets (a notable thread about what life was like on his reservation without running water, electricity or even an address). Other posts include a raffle campaign with @digdeepwater to provide clean running water and electricity to Indigenous families.
@hawanemusic
Hawane Rios has been on the frontlines at Mauna Kea, protecting the sacred Hawaiian mountain that is slated for the construction of a Thirty-Meter Telescope. Rios’ feed is filled with chants and dances performed at marches, and the unity of the Mauna Kea protectors, including Rios’ activist mother Pua Case, celebrities like Jason Momoa, Nicole Scherzinger, and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
@QueenYoNasDa
YoNasDa Lonewolf is an Oglala Lakota and African-American national community organizer and star of BET’s Copwatch America, which is about fighting police brutality. She posts pics from the Soul Train Awards dressed in Indigenous designers, frequently highlights climate strikes and sustainability, and brought a group from Ferguson to her home reservation of Pine Ridge.
@Nativein_LA
The striking images of Jordan Marie Daniel running in marathons with a red hand painted across her mouth is to increase awareness of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and two-spirit people, the epidemic that plagues North and South America. The handprint represents the silenced voices taken from Indigenous communities from violence and racism. In her captions, she often lists the names of the Missing and Murdered people she’s running for.
@dallasgoldtooth
Come for the comedy, stay for the issues. Dallas Goldtooth, a member of the comedy troupe The 1491’s, does double-duty as an organizer for the Indigenous Environmental Network. His account is a mix of information, like the Carbon Pricing Popular Education Toolkit and videos of protests in Ecuador, Photoshops and memes.
@repdebhaaland
Deb Haaland, alongside Sharice David, was one of two Native American women elected to Congress. She is the 54th United States secretary of the interior. And as the former representative for New Mexico’s First District, she continues to advocate for other women, women of color and other Native women, to run for office.
@sarainfox
She’s a television co-host, ambassador for Canada Goose and Manitobah Mukluks, a dancer, choreographer and an activist. Sarain Fox’s feed features her travels across the world, from Greenland and Australia and beyond, where she advocates for the Earth, Indigenous knowledge, and representation.
@project_562
Although technically it’s a photo project, Project 562 from photographer Matika Wilbur is worthy of a follow to see positive representations of Native Americans in their modern lives. She aims to photograph people from over 562 Indigenous nations. You can see Native communities joining together in canoe journeys in Washington, meet a junior at Dartmouth College, Doctor Henrietta Mann from the Cheyenne Tribe, and Miss Two Spirit International.
@NDNCollective
Many of @NDNCollective’s posts in recent years feature people ranging from former Olympian Billy Mills to actor Mark Ruffalo holding up cards that say ‘Native American History is American History.’ The initiative launched between NDN Collective and IllumiNATIVE aims to increase Indigenous people’s visibility and recognition. Dedicated to building Indigenous power, there are also posts about fundraisers for Mauna Kea protectors and facts, including one that states Native and Indigenous peoples make up less than five percent of the world’s population, yet protect 80 percent of the world’s biodiversity.
@sara_sandoval7g
Sara Sandoval has tirelessly been helping asylum-seeking families in Tijuana, peacefully protesting at Mauna Kea, and bringing supplies to Standing Rock. Whether she’s on the frontlines or at events in support of protectors, Instagram is just one of her platforms to bring awareness to sacred places like Mauna Kea and helping migrant families.
@kinsalehues
The future looks bright if the next generation of activists have the spirit of Kinsale Hueston. The Diné poet from the Navajo Nation is a Yale student whose regular campus life is juxtaposed with pics from her appearance in the Time’s Optimist Issue and selfies with Ava Duvernay. In other posts, she’s participating in the National Student Walkout Against Gun Violence, and in others, she’s marching against pipelines.
@amrpodcast
Technically it’s an account for the All My Relations podcast, hosted by Adrienne Keene and Matika Wilbur, which examines topics such as Native fashion, queer Indigenous identities and decolonizing sex. If you don’t have roughly an hour to listen to their podcast, just digging into their Instagram captions provides you with a wealth of information about blood quantum, the importance of the Indigenous language and more.
@tomaskarmelo
Photographer, filmmaker and poet Tomas Karmelo Amaya posts breathtaking portraits of Indigenous representation: jingle dress dancers, fourth year medical students, actors and activists. In addition, he writes about mental health and wellness. In a post, he describes his work as “visual medicine,” which could also be applied to his social media output.
@makamonture
Maka Monture’s feed is full of beautiful portraits accompanied by her poetry. Combined, the writings and photos serve to highlight Indigenous rights and spotlight Native fashion and social justice movements. It’s also a beautiful album of Indigenous love between Monture and her husband, who came together from Alaska and New Zealand, respectively.
@saylooli
Indigenous organizer Morning Star Gali speaks on panels about Native Heritage Month and ending the incarceration of girls and women, and she posts selfies from the California State Capital and marches for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. From the Ajumawi band of Pit River Tribe, Gali serves as project director of the Restoring Justice for Indigenous Peoples organization.
@misscorinne86
Featuring videos of speeches she’s delivered on why the “sexy Indian maiden” is a bad look, posts about the meaning of shawls and why corn is important, Corinne Rice’s Instagram is full of wisdom and honesty about her personal life. Rice, who travels to other tribal communities to educate them on how to fight human trafficking, is an Oglala and Mohawk woman.
@ms_eagleheart
Advocating for the importance of representation of Indigenous people in film and TV, Sarah Eagle Heart is a Lakota Emmy-award winning social justice storyteller. Formerly a board member of the Women’s March, she has a foot in Hollywood and one in Indigenous knowledge.
@zhaabowekwe
Tara Houska was listed as a Change Maker by National Geographic, alongside Oprah Winfrey and the co-creator of #BlackLivesMatter, Alicia Garza. Her grid hops from a demonstration in Minneapolis to a protest against the pipeline in Alberta’s tar sands. As she writes: “Storytelling moves hearts and minds. I thought about who is telling the story of climate, and the critical missteps of sporadically including and romanticizing indigenous wisdom.” Follow her for Ojibwe storytelling and wisdom.
@nikkilaes
Nikki Sanchez is dedicated to decolonizing communities and creating media and representation for Indigenous creatives. Her grid is dedicated to the beauty of sisterhood and the land, and her words speak to the ugliness she witnessed by counter-protestors of Greta Thunberg and the murder of her best friend’s younger sister. Next up, What Is Indigenous Peoples’ Day?
