Sacheen Littlefeather’s legacy of activism was cemented with her appearance at the 1973 Academy Awards, where she took the stage on Marlon Brando’s behalf to speak against the widespread mistreatment of Native American people in the film industry.
Less than a month after her death, the San Francisco Chronicle published claims in the outlet’s opinion section that allege Littlefeather was not Native and spent most of her life fraudulently claiming Apache and Yaqui ancestry, igniting furious criticism aimed at both Littlefeather and the author.
