List of Native American firsts

16th century

1530s

• Indigenous peoples of Florida have first contact with the Hernando de Soto Expedition, marking first contact with Spaniards and African people for many Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands.

  1580s

• The Navajo make first contact with the Spanish.

• First recorded Protestant christianing of a Native American: Christening of Manteo.

  17th century

1610s

• First Native American received as royalty by English royalty: Pocahontas.
• The Huron people first act as middlemen for French traders and other Native American tribes.

  1620s

• First Native American in New England to meet with settlers leading to ratify a peace treaty: Massaoit.

  1630s

• First American Indian reservation established: Quinnipiac Nation.

  1660s

• First published writing by a Native American in the Americas: Honoratissimi Benefactores by Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck.
• First Bible published in the Americas: The Eliot Indian Bible is printed in Natick and one of the translators, James Printer became the first Native American to use a printing press.

• First Native American graduate of Harvard University: Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck.

  1670s

• First Native American ordained as a Christian clergy member: Hiacoomes.

• Native Americans served as first mail couriers between New York City and Albany.

  18th century

1760s

• First Native American recorded as preaching Christianity to a non-Native audience: Samson Occom.

  1770s

• First published literary work by a Native American: A Sermon Preached at the Execution of Moses Paul, an Indian by Samson Occom.

  1790s

• First Native American published, written report of other Native American peoples in the English language: A Short Narration of My Last Journey to the Western Country by Hendrick Aupaumut.

  19th century

1810s

• First Native American commissioned brigadier general in the United States Army: William McIntosh.

  1820s

• Cherokee syllabary is first adopted by the Cherokee Nation general council: created by Sequoyah

• First Native American admitted to West Point and first Native American graduate: David Moniac.

• First Iroquois person to publish the oral histories of the Haudenosaunee: David Cusick in Sketches of the Ancient History of the Six Nations.

• The Cherokee Nation adopts its first modern constitution.

• First Native American newspaper and first newspaper published in an Indigenous language: The Cherokee Phoenix. First editor of the paper was Buck Watie.

• First full-length autobiography published by a Native American: A Son of the Forest by William Apess.
• First book published using the Cherokee syllabary: Cherokee Hymn Book printed by Elias Boudinot and a New England missionary.

  1840s

• First known Native American person to earn a Western medical degree from Western college: Wa-o-wa-wa-na-onk.

• First full-length travelog by a Native American: The Life, History, and Travels of Kah-ge-ga-gah-bowh by George Copway.

  1850s

• First novel published by a Native American: The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murietta by John Rollin Ridge.
• First Native American student periodical publication, A Wreath of Cherokee Rose Buds.

• First governor of the Chickasaw Nation after the adoption of the new constitution: Cyrus Harris.
• First Native American ordained as a Roman Catholic priest: James Bouchard.

• First Native American editor of mainstream newspaper: John Rollin Ridge who was the founding editor of the Sacramento Bee.

1860s

• First Native American professional track athlete: Louis "Deerfoot" Bennett.

• First person to ride the Chisholm Trail: Jesse Chisholm.

• First Native American to earn the rank of brigadier general in the U.S. Army: Ely Samuel Parker.

• First Native American to be awarded the Medal of Honor: Co-Rux-Te-Chod-Ish.
• First Native American to work as the Commissioner for Indian Affairs: Ely Samuel Parker.

  1870s

• First Native American elected as a United States Senator: Hiram Rhodes Revels.

• First independent Cherokee-owned newspaper published: The Indian Progress and owned by Elias C. Boudinot.File:Standing_Bear_LCCN2007682407.jpg|thumb|Standing Bear

• First Choctaw tribal newspaper: The Choctaw News.

• First Native American declared "a person within the meaning of the law" in the United States: Standing Bear.

  1880s

• First Native American anthropologist: Francis La Flesche.

• First Native American woman to publish a book, Sarah Winnemucca, who published Life Among the Piutes: Their Wrongs and Claims.

• First privately owned Chippewa periodical: The Progress founded by Theodore H. Beaulieu and Gustave Beaulieu.

• First Native American woman to earn a Western medical degree from a Western college: Susan La Flesche.
• First documented Native American U.S. Army nurses: Susan Bordeaux, Ella Clark, Anna B. Pleets, Josephine Two Bears.

  1890s

• First novel published by a Native American woman: Wynema: A Child of the Forest by Sophia Alice Callahan.

• First Native American elected to the United States House of Representatives: Charles Curtis.
• First Native American playwright: Gowongo Mohawk, author of Wep-Ton-No-Mah, The Indian Mail Carrier.

• First independent periodical published by and for the Osage people: The Wah-sha-she founded by George E. Tinker.
• First Native American woman to publish and edit a newspaper: Norma E. Standley Smiser.

• First Native American to play on a major league baseball team: Louis Sockalexis.

• First Native American to graduate from Stanford University: John Milton Oskison.

  20th century

1900s

• First tribal newspaper published by the White Earth Ojibwe: The Tomahawk.

• First Native American to compete for the United States in the Olympic Games: Frank Pierce.

• First tribal newspaper published for the Quileute people: The Quileute Independent created by Webster Hudson.
• First paniolos to win at the Frontier Days rodeo competition: Ikua Purdy, Archie Ka'au'a, and Jack Low.

• First Native American film actor: James Young Deer.
• First Native American lawyer to argue a case before the Supreme Court: Lyda Conley.

  1910s

• First Native American to graduate from Yale: Henry Roe Cloud.

• First Native American to play in the NFL: Jim Thorpe.
• First US national Native American rights and Progressive Era participation organization managed by Native Americans for Native Americans, the Society of American Indians

• First Native American to win gold medals for the United States in the Olympic Games: Jim Thorpe.
• First American to win an Olympic medal in the 10,000 meter run: Lewis Tewanima.

• First Native American to attend the United States Naval Academy: Joseph J. Clark.
• First person documented as having reached the summit of Denali: Walter Harper.
• First Native American head coach of a college sports team: Albert Andrew Exendine.

• First American Indian Day celebrated in May 1916. The day was created by Red Fox James.

• First known use of Indigenous Code Talkers as part of a U.S. military effort: Choctaw, Cherokee, and Navajo were all Code Talkers in World War I.

  1920s

• First all-Native American National Guard: Haskell unit of the Kansas National Guard.
• First Native American woman pilot: Bessie Coleman.

• First Native American student recorded to take part in a world conference: Ruth Muskrat Bronson.
• First woman to serve as chief of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma: Alice Brown Davis.

• First chair of the Navajo Tribal Council: Henry Chee Dodge.

• First Navajo person to earn a law degree: Thomas Henry Dodge.
• First all-Native American cavalry created in the United States: Troop C, 114th Cavalry.
• First Native American to captain the United States Hockey Team: Clarence Abel.
• First Native American woman elected to a state legislature: Cora Belle Reynolds Anderson.
• First Alaska Native elected to the Alaskan Territorial Legislature: William L. Paul.
• First Native American to play in the Winter Olympics, and win a medal in the Winter Olympics : Clarence "Taffy" Abel

• First United States–born Native American player to become an NHL regular, which he did with the New York Rangers beginning on November 16, 1926: Clarence "Taffy" Abel.
• First Native American woman to hold state office in Oklahoma: Jessie Elizabeth Randolph Moore.
• First national reform group with only Native American membership: National Congress of American Indians by Zitkala-Sa and Raymond Bonnin.

• First Native American to earn a degree as a registered nurse: Susie Walking Bear Yellowtail.

• First Native American to serve as Vice President of the United States: Charles Curtis.