Several of this year's recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor the national government gives to civilians, are people of color. They include recording star Stevie Wonder and the late Alvin Ailey, legendary choreographer and founder of the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater.

Still, many of the honorees made their presence felt on the political stage, challenging America's presumptions about people of color.

Suzan Shown Harjo testifies on Capitol Hill before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee hearing on "Stolen Identities: The Impact of Racist Stereotypes on Indigenous People" in 2011. Harry Hamburg/AP hide caption

Suzan Shown Harjo testifies on Capitol Hill before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee hearing on "Stolen Identities: The Impact of Racist Stereotypes on Indigenous People" in 2011.

Suzan Shown Harjo, who is Cheyenne and Hodulgee Muscogee, has long been an advocate for Native American rights.

Before she petitioned the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to cancel the federal trademark registrations for the Washington Redskins, she had already successfully stopped other sports teams from using names and mascots demeaning to Native American cultures.

She worked with Native American activist groups to get the University of Oklahoma to retire its mascot "Little Red" in 1970. Soon after, and with pressure from Harjo and these groups, Dartmouth University retired the "Indian" as its unofficial mascot. In the mid-1990s, Harjo persuaded the Kentucky Department of Education and schools to change all the school names and mascots that were Native American stereotypes.

In the 1960s, Harjo co-produced Seeing Red, the United States' first Native American news program, at New York radio station WBAI. There, she met her husband, Frank Harjo, with whom she reported on New York's vibrant Native American community. Her involvement in the local art scene is what initially sparked her interest in work advocating for the repatriation of sacred Native cultural objects held by museums. In 1974, Harjo began working as a legislative liaison representing Native American rights in addition to serving as the news director of the American Indian Press Association.

Under President Jimmy Carter, Harjo served as a congressional liaison for Indian affairs and supported Native American positions in the formation of federal policy. In this role, she worked toward the passage of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978, which was intended to protect the traditional religious and cultural practices of Native Americans, Alaskans and Hawaiians.

She helped found the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian and served as a founding trustee in the 1990s. Harjo was also the guest curator and general editor for a 2014 exhibition and book at the museum about treaties between the United States and Native American nations. Currently, Harjo serves as the president of the Morning Star Institute, a national Native American advocacy organization.

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Political Diversity Pioneers Win Medal Of Freedom