Leon Shenandoah

Leon Shenandoah (18 May 1915 – 22 July 1996) was an Onondaga politician who headed the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy from 1968 to his death.

Leon Shenandoah was born on 18 May 1915 in a cabin on Hemlock Creek, New York.[1] He belonged to the Eel clan of the Onondaga.[1][2]

On 7 December 1968, Shenandoah became the 235th tadadaho or tadodaho of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.[1][3][4] As tadadaho, he opposed gambling on the reservation.[5] On 25 October 1985, he delivered a speech before the United Nations General Assembly in which he compared the United Nations to the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.[2] He represented the Haudenosaunee at either the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples or Earth Summit in 1992.[2][4] On 4 July 1996, he supervised the repatriation of 74 wampum belts from the Museum of the American Indian.[4]

Shenandoah mainly lived on the Onondaga Reservation near Syracuse, New York.[1] He died on 22 July 1996 near Syracuse.[5][6]

References
  1. Johansen, Bruce E., ed. (2010). "Shenandoah, Leon". Native Americans today : a biographical dictionary. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 231–234. ISBN 978-0-313-35555-4. OCLC 655346467.
  2. Hirschfelder, Arlene B.; Molin, Paulette Fairbanks, eds. (2000). Encyclopedia of Native American religions : an introduction. Facts on File. p. 268. ISBN 0-8160-3949-6. OCLC 40848662.
  3. Pelkey, Herbert C. (16 February 1969). "Onondagas would unite all US Indians". The Sacramento Bee – via newspapers.com.
  4. Johansen, Bruce Elliott; Grinde, Donald A. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Native American Biography: Six Hundred Life Stories of Important People from Powhatan to Wilma Mankiller. Henry Holt and Company. p. 349. ISBN 978-0-8050-3270-3.
  5. Stout, David (23 July 1996). "Leon Shenandoah, 81, Leader of the Iroquois Confederacy". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
  6. "Leon Shenandoah dies at 81". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 24 November 2021.


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