1530s

1539

• 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.^[2]

1580s

1581

• The Navajo make first contact with the Spanish.^[3]

1587

• First recorded Protestant christianing of a Native American: Christening of Manteo (Croatan).^[4]

1610s

1615

• First Native American received as royalty by English royalty: Pocahontas (Powhatan).^[5]
• The Huron people first act as middlemen for French traders and other Native American tribes.^[6]

1620s

• First Native American in New England to meet with settlers leading to ratify a peace treaty: Massaoit (Wampanoag).^[7]

1630s

1638

• First American Indian reservation established: Quinnipiac Nation.^[8]

1660s

1663

• First published writing by a Native American in the Americas: Honoratissimi Benefactores by Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck (Wampanoag).^[9]
• First Bible published in the Americas: The Eliot Indian Bible is printed in Natick and one of the translators, James Printer (Nipmuc) became the first Native American to use a printing press.^[10]

1665

• First Native American graduate of Harvard University: Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck (Wampanoag).^[11]

1670s

1670

• First Native American ordained as a Christian clergy member: Hiacoomes (Wampanoag).^[12]

1672

• Native Americans served as first mail couriers between New York City and Albany.^[13]

1760s

1765

• First Native American recorded as preaching Christianity to a non-Native audience: Samson Occom (Mohegan).^[14]

1770s

1772

• First published literary work by a Native American: A Sermon Preached at the Execution of Moses Paul, an Indian by Samson Occom (Mohegan).^[9]

1790s

1794

• 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 (Mohican).^[9]

1810s

1812

• First Native American commissioned brigadier general in the United States Army: William McIntosh (Muscogee).^[15]

1820s

1821

• Cherokee syllabary is first adopted by the Cherokee Nation general council: created by Sequoyah (Cherokee, ca. 1770–1843)^[16]

1822

• First Native American admitted to West Point and first Native American graduate: David Moniac (Muscogee).^[17]

1825

• First Iroquois person to publish the oral histories of the Haudenosaunee: David Cusick (Tuscarora) in Sketches of the Ancient History of the Six Nations.^[18]

1827

• The Cherokee Nation adopts its first modern constitution.^[19]

1828

• First Native American newspaper and first newspaper published in an Indigenous language: The Cherokee Phoenix.^[20] First editor of the paper was Buck Watie (Cherokee).^[20]

1829

• First full-length autobiography published by a Native American: A Son of the Forest by William Apess (Pequot).^[21]
• First book published using the Cherokee syllabary: Cherokee Hymn Book printed by Elias Boudinot (Cherokee) and a New England missionary.^[22]

1840s

1844

• First known Native American person to earn a Western medical degree from Western college: Wa-o-wa-wa-na-onk (Cayuga).^[23]

1847

• First full-length travelog by a Native American: The Life, History, and Travels of Kah-ge-ga-gah-bowh by George Copway (Ojibwe).^[21]

1850s

1854

• First novel published by a Native American: The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murietta by John Rollin Ridge (Cherokee).^[24]
• First Native American student periodical publication, A Wreath of Cherokee Rose Buds.^[25]

1856

• First governor of the Chickasaw Nation after the adoption of the new constitution: Cyrus Harris (Chickasaw).^[26]
• First Native American ordained as a Roman Catholic priest: James Bouchard (Lenape).^[27]

1857

• First Native American editor of non-native publication: John Rollin Ridge (Cherokee) who was the founding editor of the Sacramento Bee.^[25]

1860s

1861

• First Native American professional track athlete: Louis "Deerfoot" Bennett (Seneca).^[28]

1865

• First person to ride the Chisholm Trail: Jesse Chisholm (Cherokee).^[29]

1867

• First Native American to earn the rank of brigadier general in the U.S. Army: Ely Samuel Parker (Seneca).^[30]

1869

• First Native American to be awarded the Medal of Honor: Co-Rux-Te-Chod-Ish (Pawnee).^[31]
• First Native American to work as the Commissioner for Indian Affairs: Ely Samuel Parker (Seneca).^[32]

1870s

1870

• First Native American elected as a United States Senator: Hiram Rhodes Revels (Lumbee).^[33]

1875

• First independent Cherokee-owned newspaper published: The Indian Progress and owned by Elias C. Boudinot (Cherokee).^[34]

1878

• First Choctaw tribal newspaper: The Choctaw News.^[35]

1879

• First Native American declared "a person within the meaning of the law" in the United States: Standing Bear (Ponca).^[36]

1880s

1881

• First Native American anthropologist: Francis La Flesche (Omaha).^[37]

1883

• First Native American woman to publish a book, Sarah Winnemucca (Northern Paiute), who published Life Among the Piutes: Their Wrongs and Claims.^[38]

1886

• First privately owned Chippewa periodical: The Progress founded by Theodore H. Beaulieu and Gustave Beaulieu (Chippewa/Ojibwe).^[39]

1889

• First Native American woman to earn a Western medical degree from a Western college: Susan La Flesche (Omaha).^[38]
• First documented Native American U.S. Army nurses: Susan Bordeaux, Ella Clark, Anna B. Pleets, Josephine Two Bears (all Lakota).^[40]

1890s

1891

• First novel published by a Native American woman: Wynema: A Child of the Forest by Sophia Alice Callahan (Muscogee).^[41]

1892

• First Native American elected to the United States House of Representatives: Charles Curtis (Kaw/Osage/Potawatomi).^[33]

• First Native American playwright: Gowongo Mohawk (Seneca), author of Wep-Ton-No-Mah, The Indian Mail Carrier (1892).

1893

• First independent periodical published by and for the Osage people: The Wah-sha-she founded by George E. Tinker (Osage).^[39]
• First Native American woman to publish and edit a newspaper: Norma E. Standley Smiser (Choctaw).^[39]

1897

• First Native American to play on a major league baseball team: Louis Sockalexis (Penobscot).^[42]

1898

• First Native American to graduate from Stanford University: John Milton Oskison (Cherokee).^[43]

1900s

1903

• First tribal newspaper published by the White Earth Ojibwe: The Tomahawk.^[44]

1908

• First tribal newspaper published for the Quileute people: The Quileute Independent created by Webster Hudson (Quileute).^[44]
• First paniolos to win at the Frontier Days rodeo competition: Ikua Purdy (Native Hawaiian), Archie Ka'au'a (Native Hawaiian), and Jack Low (Native Hawaiian).^[45]

1909

• First Native American film actor: James Young Deer (Nanticoke, 1876–1946).^[46]
• First Native American lawyer to argue a case before the Supreme Court: Lyda Conley (Wyandot).^[47]

1910s

1910

• First Native American to graduate from Yale: Henry Roe Cloud (Ho-Chunk).^[48]

1911

• First Native American to play in the NFL: Jim Thorpe (Sac & Fox Nation).^[49]
• First US national Native American rights and Progressive Era participation organization managed by Native Americans for Native Americans, the Society of American Indians (1911–1923)^[50][51]

1912

• First Native American to win gold medals for the United States in the Olympic Games: Jim Thorpe (Sac & Fox Nation).^[52]
• First American to win an Olympic medal (silver) in the 10,000 meter run: Lewis Tewanima (Hopi).^[53]

1913

• First Native American to attend the United States Naval Academy: Joseph J. Clark (Cherokee).^[17]
• First person documented as having reached the summit of Denali: Walter Harper (Athabascan).^[54]
• First Native American head coach of a college sports team: Albert Andrew Exendine (Delaware Tribe).^{[55][dubious – discuss]}

1916

• First American Indian Day celebrated in May 1916. The day was created by Red Fox James (Blackfeet Tribe).^[56]

1918

• 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.^[57]

1920s

1921

• First all-Native American National Guard: Haskell unit of the Kansas National Guard.^[58]
• First Native American woman pilot: Bessie Coleman (Cherokee heritage).^[59]

1922

• First Native American student to take part in a world conference: Ruth Muskrat Bronson (Cherokee).^[60]
• First woman to serve as chief of the Seminole tribe: Alice Brown Davis (Seminole).^[61]

1923

• First chair of the Navajo Tribal Council: Henry Chee Dodge (Navajo).^[61]

1924

• First Navajo person to earn a law degree: Thomas Henry Dodge (Navajo).^[62]
• First all-Native American cavalry created in the United States: Troop C, 114th Cavalry.^[63]
• First Native American to captain the United States Hockey Team: Clarence Able (Chippewa).^[64]
• First Native American woman elected to a state legislature: Cora Belle Reynolds Anderson (Chippewa).^[65]
• First Alaska Native elected to the Alaskan Territorial Legislature: William L. Paul (Tlingit).^[54]
• First Native American to carry the United States flag at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games: Clarence "Taffy" Abel (Chippewa).^[53]

1926

• First Native American in the NHL New York Rangers November 16, 1926: Clarence "Taffy" Abel (Chippewa).^[53]
• First Native American woman to hold state office in Oklahoma: Jessie Elizabeth Randolph Moore (Chickasaw).^[66]
• First national reform group with only Native American membership: National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) by Zitkala-Sa (Yankton Dakota) and Raymond Bonnin (Yankton Dakota).^[67]

1927

• First Native American to earn a degree as a registered nurse: Susie Walking Bear Yellowtail (Crow).^[68]

1929

• First Native American to serve as Vice President of the United States: Charles Curtis (Kaw/Osage/Potawatomi).^[69]

1930s

1930

• First accredited nursing program for Native Americans: Sage Memorial Hospital School of Nursing.^[70]
• First enrolled Native American woman to earn a pilot's license: Mary Riddle (Clatsop/Quinault).^[71]

1932

• First Native American woman elected to the Montana State Legislature: Dolly Smith Akers (Assiniboine).^[66]
• First Native American to open the Olympic Games: Charles Curtis (Kaw/Osage/Potawatomi).^[64]

1935

• First Native American woman elected as president of the General Federation of Women's Clubs: Roberta Campbell Lawson (Delaware Tribe).^[60][72]

1939

• First Native American to win national and international level boxing championships: Chester L. Ellis (Seneca).^[73]

1940s

1941

• First Native American commissioned in the American Chaplain Corps: James C. Ottipoby (Comanche).^[74]
• First Native American Miss America contestant: Mifauny Shunatona, Miss Oklahoma^[75][76]

1942

• First Native American to become a major general in the U.S. Air Force: Clarence L. Tinker (Osage).^[77]
• First American to dance with the Paris Opera and receive the title of prima ballerina: Maria Tallchief (Osage).^[78]
• First Native American woman to work for Lockheed, and probably first Native American woman aeronautical engineer: Mary Golda Ross (Cherokee Nation).^[79]
• First Native American commissioned pilot in the United States Navy: Tom Oxendine (Lumbee).^[80]

1943

• First Navajo language newspaper: Adahooniligii.^[81]
• First Native American venerated as a saint by the Roman Catholic church: Kateri Tekakwitha (Mohawk).^[82]
• First Native American woman joins the Marine Corps Women's Reserve: Minnie Spotted-Wolf (Blackfoot).^[83]

1944

• First Muscogee person to earn the Medal of Honor: Ernest Childers (Muscogee (Creek) Nation).^[84]
• First person of Choctaw descent to earn the Medal of Honor: Van T. Barfoot (Mississippi Choctaw descent).^[85]
• First and only Native American WASP: Ola Mildred Rexroat (Oglala Lakota).^[86]

1945

• First Cherokee to earn the Medal of Honor: Jack Montgomery (Cherokee Nation).^[87]
• First anti-discrimination law passed in the United States: The Alaska Equal Rights Act of 1945, ending segregation of Alaska Natives.^[88]

1946

• First female elected Tribal Chair in the United States: Josephine Gates Kelly (Standing Rock Sioux)^[89]

1949

• First Hopi to earn the Indian Achievement Award from the Indian Council Fire: Fred Kabotie.^[90]

1950s

1950

• First Native American veterinarian: Bernard Anthony Hoehner (Standing Rock Sioux).^[91]

1952

• First Hawaiian to be awarded the Medal of Honor: Herbert Kaili Pililaau (Native Hawaiian).^[74]

• First US Hall of Fame for Native Americans founded, National Hall of Fame for Famous American Indians, Anadarko, Oklahoma.^[92]

1953

• First Indian Miss America: Arlene Wesley James (Yakama).^[93]

1956

• First Native American to earn Western dentistry degree: George Blue Spruce (Laguna).^[91]
• First Native American oncologist: James W. Hampton (Chickasaw/Choctaw).^[70]

1957

• First Native American elected to the Idaho State Legislature: Joseph R. Garry (Coeur d'Alene).^[66]
• First radio station to primarily broadcast in Navajo language: KNDN-AM.^[94]

1958

• First Native American to graduate from the United States Air Force Academy: Leo Johnson (unknown tribal affiliation).^[17]

1959

• First woman president of the Mescalero Apache Tribe: Virginia S. Klinekole (Mescalero Apache).^[95]

1960s

• First Native American pharmacist: Francis Quam (Zuni).^[96]

1960

• First Native American to own an FTD floral shop: Nunny Waano-Gano (Karuk).^[97]

1961

• First Native American elected to the U.S. Congress from South Dakota: Benjamin Reifel (Lakota).^[98]

1962

• First Alaska Native newspaper: The Tundra Times with Howard Rock (Inupiaq) as the first editor.^[54]

1963

• First Native American to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom: Annie Dodge Wauneka (Navajo).^[93]

1964

• First Native American elected to the New Mexico House of Representatives: James D. Atcitty (Navajo).^[99]
• First Native American on the United States Olympic Judo Team: Benjamin Nighthorse Campbell (Northern Cheyenne).^[64]
• First Native American to win an Olympic gold medal in the 10,000 meter run: William Mervin "Billy" Mills (Oglala Lakota).^[53]
• First Native American to earn a doctorate in psychology: Marigold Linton, from UCLA (Morongo Band of Mission Indians)^[100]

1966

• First Native American elected as New Mexico state senator: Tom Lee (Navajo).^[99]
• First Native American elected to the Arizona House of Representatives: Lloyd Lynn House (Navajo/Oneida).^[99]
• First Native American man to earn a doctorate in psychology: Arthur McDonald (Oglala Lakota).^[70]

1967

• First ballet written specifically for Native American dancers: Four Moons which was scored by Louis Ballard (Quapaw/Cherokee).^[101]
• First woman to chair the Seminole Tribe Council: Betty Mae Tiger Jumper (Seminole Tribe of Florida).^[95]

1969

• First Native American to receive a Pulitzer Prize: N. Scott Momaday (Kiowa).^[102]
• First Native American to become a public school district superintendent: Henry Gatewood (Navajo).^[103]
• First Native American to work as Indian Commissioner on the Indian Claims Commission: Brantley Blue (Lumbee).^[98]

1970s

1970

• First broadcast license given to a Native American tribe (Choctaw): WYRU-AM.^[94]

1971

• First Native American job corps center founded: The Kicking Horse Regional Manpower Center.^[104]
• First Native American elected to the North Dakota state legislature: Arthur Raymond (Dakota Sioux/Oglala).^[105]
• First Navajo to earn a doctorate in physics: Fred Begay (Navajo).^[106]

1972

• First Native American owned and operated non-commercial radio station for Native American listeners: KTDB-FM.^[107]
• First Native American on the United States Women's Table Tennis National Team: Angelita Rosal (Sioux).^[28]
• First non-Japanese sumo wrestler to win the top division championship: Takamiyama Daigorō (Native Hawaiian).^[108]
• First induction ceremony of the American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame.^[108]

1974

• First Alaska Native to win the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race: Carl Huntington (Athabascan).^[108]
• First Native American band to reach the top five on the Billboard Hot 100: Redbone with "Come and Get Your Love" at number 5.^[109]

1975

• First artist chosen by the Museum of the American Indian for a series on modern Native American art: R. C. Gorman (Navajo).^[110]
• First Native American practitioner of an Indigenous religion to give the invocation at the United States Senate: Frank Fools Crow (Lakota).^[111]
• First Native American woman dentist: Jessica Rickert (Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation).^[112]
• First woman to chair the Yavapai-Apache Tribe: Vera Brown Starr (Yavapai-Apache).^[95]
• First tribally owned and built golf course is opened by the Mescalero Apache Tribe.^[108]

1976

• First American Indian Studies master's degree program established by Charlotte Anne Wilson Heth (Cherokee).^[113]
• First Jicarilla Apache woman to earn a doctorate degree: Veronica Velarde Tiller.^[114]
• First radio station broadcasting in the Navajo language and under Navajo control: The Navajo Radio Network.^[107]
• First chairperson of the Fort Sill Apache Tribe: Mildred Cleghorn (Fort Sill Apache).^[95]
• First Alaska Native to become a physician: Ted Mala (Inupiaq).^[115]

1977

• First Inuit Circumpoloar Conference takes place.^[116]

1978

• First Native American artist to display their work in China: Joan Hill (Muscogee).^[110]
• First woman to serve as chair of the Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes: Juanita L. Learned (Cheyenne-Arapaho).^[95]
• First person of Native American descent to earn a fellowship from the National Institute of Mental Health and the American Psychiatric Association: Catharine Gail Kincaid (Eastern Dakota descent).^[117]

1980s

1980

• First Native American woman nominated for Vice President of the United States in any political party: LaDonna Harris (Comanche).^[65]
• First Native American woman to head the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts (SWAIA): Ramona Sakiestewa (Hopi)^[118]

1981

• First Native American woman to graduate from the United States Naval Academy: Sandra L. Hinds (unknown tribal affiliation).^[119]
• First American to direct the Paris Opera ballet: Rosella Hightower (Choctaw Nation).^[101]

1982

• First Native American elected to the Colorado House of Representatives: Benjamin Nighthorse Campbell (Northern Cheyenne).^[105]
• First Native American woman to graduate from the United States Air Force Academy: Dolores K. Smith (Cherokee).^[119]
• First Native American director of Indian Health Services (IHS): Everett R. Rhoades (Kiowa).^[120]
• First tribe to open an electric plant: Warm Spring Indians in Oregon.^[121]

1983

• First woman to work as attorney general for the Navajo Nation: Claudeen Bates Arthur (Navajo).^[122]
• First Native American woman to argue a successful case before the Supreme Court of the United States: Arlinda Locklear (Lumbee).^[123]
• First anthology of Native American women's art and literature is published: A Gathering of Spirit: A Collection by North American Women edited by Beth Brant (Mohawk).^[102]
• First television documentary produced by a crew of all-Indigenous people: I'd Rather Be Powwowing, directed by Larry Littlebird (Kewa Pueblo).^[124]
• First Minnesota Ojibwe Nation woman to become a Western medical doctor: Kathleen Annette (White Earth Ojibwe).^[125]

1984

• First Alaska Native woman to earn a doctorate degree: Elizabeth Anne Parent (Athabascan).^[114]
• First Native American woman to graduate from West Point: Brigitte T. Wahwassuck (unknown tribal affiliation).^[119]

1985

• First woman to become a Cherokee Nation principal chief: Wilma Mankiller (Cherokee Nation).^[126]
• First Native American to receive the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for race relations: Clifford Bahniptewa (Hopi).^[127]

1986

• First Native American ordained as Roman Catholic bishop: Donald E. Pelotte (Abenaki).^[128]
• First public recognition of the military service of the Choctaw code talkers.^[129]
• First American Indian Week celebrated during the week of November 23–30.^[130]

1987

• First Native American to become a fellow of the MacArthur Foundation: Leslie Marmon Silko (Laguna Pueblo descent).^[131]
• First Native American woman named as Ms. magazine's Woman of the Year: Wilma Mankiller (Cherokee Nation).^[132]
• First community-owned and operated clinic established on an Indian reservation: Porcupine Clinic by Loralei DeCora (Winnebago).^[132]
• First woman to elected as governor of the Isleta Pueblo: Verna Williamson (Isleta Pueblo).^[133]
• First woman in the Eastern Band of Cherokee to become a Western physician: Frances Owl-Smith (Cherokee).^[134]

1988

• First woman elected as tribal chair of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa: Twila Martin-Kehahbah (Chippewa-Cree).^[133]
• First Tuscarora Indian woman to become a Western surgeon: Susan Veronica Karol (Tuscarora Indian Nation of Sanborn).^[135]

1989

• First book of poetry in Navajo is published by Rex Lee Jim (Navajo).^[136]
• First Native American news reporter on national television: Hattie Kauffman (Nez Percé).^[137]
• First Native American in Nevada to become a Western physician: Sharon M. Malotte (Shoshone).^[138]

1990s

1990

• First Native American to win in a World Chess Championship open: Jason Stevens (Navajo).^[139]
• First Native American Month celebrated in November.^[130]

1991

• First Native American to receive the Freeman Tilden Award from the National Park Service and the National Parks and Conservation Association: Wilson Hunter (Navajo).^[140]
• First Native American state attorney general: Larry Echo Hawk (Pawnee).^[105]

1993

• First play-by-play of an NBA game in a Native language is broadcast in Navajo.^[108]

1994

• First Native American to work as U.S. Marshall in the Justice Department: Robert D. Ecoffey (Oglala Lakota Nation).^[122]
• First Navajo woman board certified in surgery: Lori Arviso Alvord (Navajo).^[141]
• First Native American woman to be licensed as an architect in the United States: Tammy Eagle Bull (Oglala Lakota Nation).^[142][143]

1995

• First Native American artwork travels in space: Don Montileaux's (Lakota) painting is on board the Endeavor.^[144]
• First woman to serve as principal chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians: Joyce Dugan (Cherokee).^[133]
• First Native American woman to play professional basketball for a foreign nation: Ryneldi Becenti (Navajo).^[108]

1996

• First Native American woman elected to the New Mexico House of Representatives: Lynda Morgan Lovejoy (Navajo).^[145]
• First Native American participant in the Paralympics: Cheri Madsen (Omaha).^[146]

1997

• First Native American women elected to the Arizona House of Representatives: Sally Ann Gonzales (Yaqui) and Debora Norris (Navajo).^[145]
• First Native American to be awarded the Award for Excellence from the American Public Health Association: Linda Burhansstipanov (Cherokee).^[147]
• First Native American Roman Catholic archbishop: Charles J. Chaput^[148] (Prairie Band Potawatomi)^[149][150]

1998

• First national awards for Native American music: Native American Music Awards (NAMA).^[151]
• First literary and artistic journal for Native Hawaiians: 'Ōiwi: A Native Hawaiian Journal founded by D. Mahealani Dudoit (Native Hawaiian).^[152]

1999

• First Navajo to earn a doctorate in history: Jennifer Denetdale (Navajo).^[153]

2000s

2000

• First Native American president of the American Public Health Association: Michael E. Bird (Kewa Pueblo/Ohkay Owingeh).^[147]
• First Native American woman to graduate from Yale University School of Medicine: Patricia Nez Henderson (Navajo).^[154]

2001

• First Native Hawaiian drafted by Major League Soccer: Brian Ching (Native Hawaiian).^[155]
• First Native American to compete in the Indy 500: Cory Witherill (Navajo).^[155]

2002

• First Native American in space: John Herrington (Chickasaw Nation).^[56]
• First Native American woman to compete in the Winter Olympics: Naomi Lang (Karuk).^[53]

2003

• First tribe to own a professional sports team: The Mohegan Tribe purchases the Connecticut Sun.^[155]
• First Native American woman killed in combat fighting for the United States in war in Asia: Lori Piestewa (Hopi).^[129]

2004

• First woman to serve as president of the tribal council for the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation: Cecelia Fire Thunder (Oglala Lakota).^[133]
• First woman tribal chair of the White Earth Ojibwe: Erma Vizenor (Ojibwe).^[133]
• First Native American museum established on the National Mall: National Museum of the American Indian.^[156]

2005

• First tribe to purchase a professional men's basketball team: The Yakima Nation buys the Yakima SunKings.^[155]

2006

• First woman to serve as chief of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma: Glenna Wallace (Shawnee).^[133]
• First awards announced in the American Indian Youth Literature Awards.^[157]

2007

• First Native American president of the American Library Association: Loriene Roy^[158][159] (White Earth Ojibwe).^[160]

2008

• First Native American woman elected to a statewide executive office: Denise Juneau (Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation).^[65]
• First Native American to win the Heisman Trophy: Sam Bradford (Cherokee Nation).^[155]

2010s

2010

• First woman to become a chief of the Delaware Tribe of Indians: Paula Pechonick (Delaware).^[133]
• First Native American nominated for the United States Poet Laureate: Linda Hogan (Chickasaw).^[152]

2011

• First Native American drafted into the WNBA: Tahnee Robinson (Northern Cheyenne).^[161]
• First woman chief of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians: Phyliss J. Anderson (Choctaw).^[133]

2014

• First Native American named a United States Ambassador to the United Nations: Keith Harper (Cherokee Nation).^[162]
• First Native American woman to become a federal judge in the United States: Diane Humetewa (Hopi).^[163]

2015

• First Native American-owned cannabis shop: Elevation, opened by the Squaxin Island Tribe.^[164]

2016

• First Native American to receive an electoral vote for President of the United States: Faith Spotted Eagle (Yankton Sioux Tribe)^[165]
• First Native American woman to receive an electoral vote for Vice President of the United States: Winona LaDuke (White Earth Ojibwe)^[166]

2017

• First Native-American to serve in the Wyoming State Senate: Affie Ellis (Navajo).^[167]

2018

• First Native American women elected to the United States Congress: Sharice Davids (Ho-Chunk) and Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo).^[65]
• First Native American to serve as a law clerk for the Supreme Court of the United States: Tobi Merrit Edwards Young (Chickasaw Nation).^[168]

2019

• First Native American to earn an honorary award from the Academy Awards: Wes Studi (Cherokee Nation).^[169]
• First Native American United States Poet Laureate: Joy Harjo (Mvskoke/Cherokee).^[170]
• First delegate to the United States House of Representatives from the Cherokee Nation: Kimberly Teehee (Cherokee Nation).^[171]
• First American nationally distributed children's show to feature an Alaska Native as the lead character: Molly of Denali, premiered in 2019.^[172]

2020s

2020

• First painting on canvas by a Native American artist in the National Gallery of Art: I See Red: Target, by Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes).^[173]
• First Native American to compete in the Tour de France: Neilson Powless (Oneida).^[174][175]
• First U.S. tribe to contribute heirloom seeds to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault: the Cherokee Nation.^[176]
• First Native American openly transgender person elected to office in America: Stephanie Byers, elected to the Kansas state House of Representatives (Chickasaw Nation).^[177]
• First Alaska Native to be featured on United States currency: Elizabeth Peratrovich (Tlingit).^[178]
• First Native American to play for the National Women's Soccer League: Madison Hammond (Navajo and San Felipe Pueblo).^[179][180]

2021

• First Native American to win a Caldecott Medal: Michaela Goade for We Are Water Protectors (Tlingit and Haida tribes).^[181]
• First Native American to serve as a US Cabinet secretary (Secretary of the Interior): Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo).^[182][183]

2022

• First Native American to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music: Raven Chacon (Navajo).^[184]
• First Native American woman to win a medal at the World Athletics Championships: Janee' Kassanavoid (Comanche).^[185]
• First Native American Treasurer of the United States: Marilynn Malerba (Mohegan).^[186][187]
• First Native American woman in space: Nicole Aunapu Mann (of Wailacki heritage, an enrolled member of the Round Valley Indian Tribes).^{[188][189][190]}
• First Native American elected to the position of bishop in the United Methodist Church: David Wilson (Choctaw).^[191]

2023

• First Native American woman to go on a spacewalk: Nicole Aunapu Mann (of Wailacki heritage, an enrolled member of the Round Valley Indian Tribes).^{[188][189][190][192]}
• First Native American female playwright to have a play produced on Broadway: Larissa FastHorse (Sicangu Lakota), with her play called The Thanksgiving Play.^[193]

2024

• First Native American artist to have a solo exhibition in the American pavilion of the Venice Biennale: Jeffrey Gibson (Mississippi Choctaw/Cherokee).^{[194][195][196][197]}
• First Native American Committee on Appropriations chair: Tom Cole (Chickasaw Nation).^[198][199]