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10,000 BCE
Paleo Indians live throughout North America.
The first people to live in North America, the Paleo Indians, spread across the continent. They arrive by walking on a piece of land that joined Asia and North America, but is now a body of water called the Bering Strait. -
Gold is discovered in the Black Hills of South Dakota on Indian land.
With the announcement that gold has been discovered in the Black Hills of South Dakota, Lakota Sioux fight to keep white people from digging up their land. The land had been promised to the Lakota in the Fort Laramie Treaty. -
Robert Latham Owen becomes the first Native American senator.
Robert Latham Owen, a Cherokee Indian, becomes the first Native American to serve in the U.S. Senate. Owen represented Oklahoma in the Senate until 1925. -
Jim Thorpe is named the greatest athlete of the first half of the 20th century.
Jim Thorpe, who is part Native American and part Caucasian, is named the greatest athlete of the first 50 years of the 20th century. One of the best athletes in history, he was a baseball player, a football player, a basketball player, and an Olympic champion in track and field. -
The first Indian casino opens in Florida.
The Seminole Indian tribe opens the first Indian gaming facility in North America. It is only a high stakes bingo parlor, but Indian gaming will grow into a major source of income for many of the Indian tribes in America. -
The first Native American is made a saint by the Catholic Church.
Kateri Tekakwitha, a Mohawk Indian in the 17th century, becomes the first Native American saint. Born in New York, Tekakwitha was shunned by her family and fellow tribe members when she was baptized at the age of 20.