When Sacheen Littlefeather died on Oct. 2, 2022, obituaries reflecting on the actress and activist’s life held her up as a Native American trailblazer.
But there is serious issue with this assessment: A suspicion among those who knew her – myself included – that her claims to American Indian heritage were not what they seemed has developed into outright claims of falsehood. A report in the San Francisco Chronicle on Oct. 22 claims that Littlefeather was a “fraud.”
