Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
Professional cyclist Cole House was born on February 5, 1988, and grew up on the Oneida Indian Reservation in Wisconsin. House is a member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, Wolf Clan. His mother is a full-blooded Oneida and his father is of Oneida, Ojibwa, and Belgian descent. Since his birth, Cole House’s Native American... Continue Reading →
Linda Old Horn-Purdy, a member of the Crow Tribe, established herself as a trailblazer during her time in the U.S. Navy. In 1999, for example, she became one of the first women in that military branch to serve on a combatant ship. Old Horn-Purdy started out life on the Crow Agency reservation in Montana. “I... Continue Reading →
In 2008, racecar driver Matt Kobyluck achieved a notable career milestone when he won the NASCAR Camping World East Series Championship. This victory made Kobyluck, who is a member of the federally recognized Mohegan Tribal Nation in southeastern Connecticut, the first Native American to win that NASCAR-sanctioned regional stock car racing series (now part of... Continue Reading →
Neal A. McCaleb, whose longtime career in public service has included key leadership roles in transportation, is a member of the Chickasaw Nation (a federally recognized Native American tribe with its headquarters in the city of Ada, Oklahoma). McCaleb was born in 1935 in Oklahoma City. He graduated from Putnam City High School in Warr... Continue Reading →
In October 2022, NASA astronaut Nicole Aunapu Mann became the first enrolled female member of a Native American tribe to travel into space. John Herrington, an enrolled member of the Chickasaw Nation, had made history in 2002 as the first enrolled member of a Native American tribe to fly in space. (William R. Pogue, who... Continue Reading →
Racecar driver Cory Witherill, who is a member of the Navajo tribe, was born in California in 1971 and has remained a resident of that state. In 2001, he made motorsports history when he became the first full-blooded Native American to compete in the Indianapolis 500 (also known as the Indy 500) annual automobile race.... Continue Reading →
During World War II, Nellie Locust played a groundbreaking role as one of several Native American women from Oklahoma to serve in the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) Women’s Reserve. USCG Women’s Reserve, also known as the SPARS (the acronym for “Semper Paratus – Always Ready”), was established in 1942 as the women’s branch of the... Continue Reading →
Arlando Teller, a member of the Navajo Nation and a lifelong Arizona resident, became deputy director for tribal affairs at the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) on February 1, 2021. “I am really grateful for this opportunity, but know that I’m not doing this alone,” Teller said at that time in an interview with Indian... Continue Reading →
During World War II, Thomas “Tom” Oxendine became the first Native American to be commissioned as a pilot in the U.S. Navy. Oxendine was a member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. Most of the members of this tribe have lived in Robeson, Cumberland, Hoke, and Scotland counties in North Carolina. Oxendine was born... Continue Reading →
In 2020, Neilson Powless became the first Native American from the United States to compete in the Tour de France. As a child, he had first aspired to take part in that prestigious multiple-stage bicycle race. “It was so exotic and powerful that even before I turned 10, I dreamed of one day competing in... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 