2003 American Indian Festival of Words
Author Award - Honoring Vine Deloria, Jr.
Vine Deloria, Jr., author, scholar, and political activist is the winner of the 2003 American Indian Festival of Words Author Award. An enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Deloria pursued a law degree so that he could assist Indian tribes and individuals in understanding their rights.
He is the author of more than 20 books, including his most popular, “Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto” in which he called for tribes to become self-governing. His other works express his desire for American Indians to retain and maintain traditional values and beliefs. A partial list of other titles include “We Talk, You Listen: New Tribes, New Turf” (1970); “Behind the Trail of Broken Treaties: an Indian Declaration of Independence” (1974); “American Indians, American Justice” (1983); “Indian Education in America” (1991); “Red Earth, White Lies: Native Americans and the Myth of Scientific Fact” (1995). His many awards include the Anisfield-Wolf Award for “Custer Died for Your Sins”, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers of America in 1996 and the 2002 Wallace Stegner Award.