Suzan Shown Harjo (born 1945) is one of the leading Native American activists in the United States. She has raised public awareness about issues of concern to Native Americans by working on legislation to protect their rights, preserve their languages and traditions, reduce their high levels of poverty, alcoholism and unemployment, and safeguard their sacred lands.

Through a multitude of activities--lobbying legislators, speaking to the media, and writing numerous articles for general circulation and Native American publications--Suzan Shown Harjo has been able to exert her influence and raise the consciousness of a not-always-receptive public. Her most important activity, however, is serving as president and director of the Morning Star Institute in Washington, D.C., the oldest and largest Native American advocacy group in the country. That organization, which Harjo founded in 1984 in memory of her late husband, Frank Harjo, reminds the federal government of the treaty rights promised in...