John Hickenlooper was elected Governor of Colorado in 2010 after being active and mayor of Denver in 2003. He recognizes and has acted on the Columbus v. Indigenous Peoples’ Day debate.

Ben Nighthorse Campbell, who retired from public office after representing Colorado in the U.S. Senate (1993-2005) and the U.S. House (1987-93), is one of 44 chiefs of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe. He is an attorney in the Washington, D.C., office of Holland & Knight.

Brian Buchanan is chief of the Miami Nation of Indiana.

Melanie Benjamin is chief executive of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Indians, based in Onamia, Minn.

Jace Weaver is a religion professor at the University of Georgia, Athens, who specializes in American Indian cultures and religious traditions. Weaver directs the university’s Institute of Native American Studies.

Phillip Martin was chief of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. Martin served as the Tribe’s principle elected official for 32 years, and had a record of service to the Tribal government of 40 years.  

Sharlotte Neely is a professor of anthropology at Northern Kentucky University in Highland Heights. She has expertise in North American Indians, especially the Cherokee, Shawnee and Navajo. NKU has a Native American Studies program. She wrote Snowbird Cherokees: People of Persistence (University of Georgia Press, 1993) and co-wrote This Land Was Theirs: A Study of Native Americans (Mayfield Publishing, 1998).

Read an article about Native Americans’ Day that explains when, where and how that day is celebrated.

Read a December 2007 Pew Forum report on how the public perceives Mitt Romney and other Mormons.