John C. Mohawk* ’67, H’92 – Professor
Iroquois Scholar and Activist
John Mohawk, Ph.D., was regarded as one of the foremost Iroquois scholars and activists of his generation. He effectively combined the roles and talents of university professor, international negotiator, and cultural revivalist.
A long-time professor in the State University of New York at Buffalo's American Studies Department, Mohawk also directed the department's Indigenous Studies program. He was known as a skilled crisis negotiator who not only helped reconcile differences between Iroquois factions, but who also, in 1980, played a role in negotiating U.S.-Iranian relations. As a cultural revivalist, Mohawk initiated and led the Iroquois White Corn Project, which produced and marketed traditional Seneca white corn to restaurants, part of his larger effort to help maintain small-scale sustainable agriculture.
Mohawk was an editor of
Akwesasne Notes, founder and editor of
Daybreak magazine, and an opinion columnist for
Indian Country Today. His best-known books include
Utopian Legacies (2000) and
Exiled in the Land of the Free (1992), which he co-edited with Oren Lyons.
Mohawk was born into the Seneca Turtle Clan. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Hartwick College and a Ph.D from the University of Buffalo. Hartwick awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree to him in 1996.
* deceased