They actually used Italian actors in most westerns to play, sorry to use this term, but Indians is how they were casted, & referred to at that time. They didn’t even speak the language. They used a mixture of Spanish & Italian.
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Oh, I know that all too well. In nearly every Western from the Golden Age of Hollywood, with but a few exceptions (like Jay Silverheels in Breoken Arrow), the Natives were played by non-Natives. I remember Michael Ansara played an Apache Marshal on the old TV show Law of the Plainsman and he was Lebanese!
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Iron eyes Cody would be the biggest example. He actually adopted the persona of a Native American & followed their customs.
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Yes, I remember Iron Eyes Cody! Italian in descent, but he studied Native American cultures to such a point that he could pass as an actual Native where most people are concerned.
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Yep, he had huge following & most of his followers didn’t realize he was Italian. He purposely told everyone he was Native American & truly believed he was. All b/c he got so steeped in the culture. He was also the (sorry again) Indian that shed a tear in that super famous littering commercial. When the trash lands at his feet, & they zoom in on his tearful face. That’s how bad they’ve (you’ve) been done. They didn’t even use a real Native American to portray that role. @TheWifeOfJasonTodd, I know u know a thing or 2 about all of this. I’m jumping back & forth from comics to here. But, I thought of u when this subject was breached.
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If I am completely honest… Man-of-Bats and his son (who I forget the name of) are the only Native American characters I know of. I had no idea that Dawnstar was Native American, but I am only familiar with her through DC Bombshells.
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I just reread that. It’s awesome. That storyline is so great 
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Sorry, forgot the second part. Dawnstar & The LOSH & Legionaires highly recommend!!! So many amazing issues u honestly can’t go wrong. Start anytime & it’s incredible quality. Giffen’s runs are incredible & he was there forever.
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Thanks for the recommendation 
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U bet, anytime. If u Google certain reading orders there’s a plethora of them. All amazing!!!
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I did not know that Native American characters and DC existed but I’m loving this
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Welcome to the crew!!! Glad to have u 
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I read it when I was trying to come up with my fave.
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Welcome to the community @naiomi.jean.85049! Hopefully this thread will inspire you to look into some of the series starring these characters - I’ll echo the recommendations for diving right into Legion of Super-Heroes for more content along these lines. 
Please let the moderator team know if you need anything!
Thanks for posting all the Dawnstar images @capo-mage - gorgeous as usual. 
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Man-of-Bats is hands-down my favorite Indigenous DC Character
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Not sure a descendant from Indigenous People living on Alien worlds count, but if they do Dawnstar is my favorite
If not then I’ll go with Timber
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Though I have to admit after reading @HubCityQuestion 's article on this topic, I completely forgot Sarah Rainmaker, she would be my 1(a).
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Since this allows me to go beyond “Native American,” I’m a big fan of Miiyahbin Marten, Equinox, and would really like to see her given more page time. For those unfamiliar, she’s a Canadian Cree introduced in Jeff Lemire’s Justice League United [2014]. The series suffered from several factors I won’t get in to here, but was still very enjoyable - Miiyahbin was one of the highlights, as a young naïve hero with powers tied to her heritage, still trying to find her way. She even gets a time travel visit from Dawnstar to inform her of her future importance to generations of native heroes, but we never really get to see her along this path, as nobody else has really picked her up since the series was terminated. (Aside from a brief Lemire-penned thread through Futures End.)
((Same thing happened to one of my favorite overall characters, Burden, from Gail Simone’s The Movement, which has nothing to do with Native American or Indigenous people (though Sarah Rainmaker’s girlfriend, Virtue, is the leader of The Movement), but now I kind of want a Burden/Equinox odd couple team up series.))
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