Deloria, Vine, Jr. By Allen Browning Graduate Student, Indiana
University Purdue University at Indianapolis (Fall, 2005) Vine
Deloria Jr. is one of the best-known American Indian activists
of the 20th century. A member of the Standing Rock Sioux
reservation, Deloria came from a family of prominent American
Indians. Deloria worked in the mid 1960s for the National
Congress of American Indians and brought the organization
through a very rough time in its history. After becoming a
national figure himself with the publication of his book “Custer
Died for your Sins: An Indian Manifesto” in 1969, Deloria
continued his education with a law degree and expanded his
writings to more than two dozen books before his death. His
writings are as diverse as his education with topics including
politics, theology and law. Deloria culminated his professional
life as a professor working at both Arizona State University and
the University of Colorado at Boulder. (Adams Jan. 2005) Vine
Deloria Jr. (1933-2005) was born on March 26,