page_title: Iroquois
section_title: Prominent individuals
hierarchical_section_title: Iroquois / People / Prominent individuals
context_page_description: The Iroquois or Haudenosaunee are a historically powerful northeast Native American confederacy in North America. They were known during the colonial years to the French as the Iroquois League, and later as the Iroquois Confederacy, and to the English as the Five Nations, comprising the Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, and Seneca. After 1722, they accepted the Tuscarora people from the Southeast into their confederacy, as they were also Iroquoian-speaking, and became known as the Six Nations.
  The Iroquois have absorbed many other individuals from various peoples into their tribes as a result of warfare, adoption of captives, and by offering shelter to displaced peoples. Culturally, all are considered members of the clans and tribes into which they are adopted by families.
  The historic St. Lawrence Iroquoians, Wyandot, Erie, and Susquehannock, all independent peoples, also spoke Iroquoian languages. In the larger sense of linguistic families, they are often considered Iroquoian peoples because of their similar languages and cultures, all descended from the Proto-Iroquoian people and language; politically, however, they were traditional enemies of the Iroquois League.
context_section_description: Frederick Alexcee, artist (also of Tsimshian ancestry)
  Henry Armstrong, boxer, #2 in Ring Magazine's list of the 80 Best Fighters of the Last 80 Years
  Akiatonharónkwen or Joseph Louis Cook, a Mohawk leader born to Abenaki and African-American parents and adopted by the Mohawk
  Chief John Big Tree, Seneca chief and actor
  Governor Blacksnake (Chainbreaker) Thaonawyuthe, Seneca war chief
  Joseph Brant or Thayendanegea, Mohawk leader
  Canasatego, Onondaga leader, diplomat and spokesperson known for his speech at the 1744 Treaty of Lancaster, where he recommended that the British colonies emulate the Iroquois by forming a confederacy.
  Polly Cooper, Oneida who aided the Continental army during the American Revolution and was a friend of George Washington
  Cornplanter or Kaintwakon, Seneca chief
  Jesse Cornplanter, Seneca artist and author
  David Cusick, Tuscarora artist and author
  Deganawida or The Great Peacemaker, the traditional founder, along with Hiawatha, of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy
  Deserontyon (John Deseronto), prominent Mohawk war chief
  Gary Farmer, Cayuga actor
  Graham Greene, Oneida and award-winning Canadian actor
  Handsome Lake (Ganioda'yo), Seneca religious leader
  Cornelius Hill (Onangwatgo), last hereditary Oneida chief, also Episcopal priest
  Lillie Rosa Minoka Hill, Mohawk physician who was the second female American Indian doctor in the United States
  Little Beard Si-gwa-ah-doh-gwih ("Spear Hanging Down"), Seneca chief
  John Smoke Johnson (Sakayengwaraton), Mohawk chief
  Pauline Johnson, Canadian writer and performer popular in the late 19th century, of Mohawk-European ancestry
  Stan "Bulldog" Jonathan, Mohawk professional hockey left winger
  Ki Longfellow, novelist
  Tom Longboat (Cogwagee), Onondaga distance runner
  Oren Lyons, Onondaga, traditional Faithkeeper of the Turtle clan
  Shelley Niro, Mohawk filmmaker, photographer, and installation artist
  John Norton (Teyoninhokovrawen), Mohawk warrior and leader of Cherokee-Scottish ancestry (adopted by Mohawk)
  Skenandoa ("pine tree chief"), Oneida chief
  Ely S. Parker, also known as Donehogawa or Häsanoan′da, Seneca, Union Army officer during American Civil War; appointed Commissioner of Indian Affairs by President Ulysses S. Grant
  Sanford Plummer, Seneca artist
  Red Jacket, Seneca orator and chief of the Wolf clan
  Robbie Robertson, Mohawk, songwriter, guitarist and singer who was part of The Band.
  Sayenqueraghta, Seneca war chief
  August Schellenberg, Mohawk-Métis actor
  Jay Silverheels, actor, Canadian Mohawk, portrayed Tonto the companion to The Lone Ranger on US TV series
  Joanne Shenandoah, Oneida singer, songwriter, actress and educator
  Tanacharison (Half-king), Seneca war leader during the Seven Years' War
  Kateri Tekakwitha, Mohawk-Algonquin, first Catholic Native American saint
  Billy Two Rivers, Mohawk professional wrestler
caption: Famous Seneca chief, Red Jacket, political negotiator and critic of European religion, speaking to crowd
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