Since Jay Silverheels' 1949 debut as “Tonto” on The Lone Ranger, the television industry has primarily adhered to a fictionalized version of American history that is familiar and comfortable for non-Native audiences. Like Frederick Jackson Turner's “Frontier Thesis,” this television narrative presents American history as the natural “progression” of Euro-Americans westward, through “frontiers of wilderness.” This version of history allows non-Indigenous viewers to imagine themselves comfortably as participants in the history of conquest while removing the guilt and shame that accompanies American colonization. By reinforcing the biased inaccuracies contained in school textbooks, this mediated version of history misinforms the American public in general about Native American cultures. Meanwhile, Indigenous communities are grappling with the effects of these stereotypes.

As the television industry has profited from its discriminatory portrayals of Indigenous cultures, Native entertainers and organizations have consistently articulated their own agendas for television programming and have confronted televisual misrepresentations through shared methods of resistance. This dissertation aims to document the often-competing ways in which Native activists have historically challenged the television industry through their roles as lobbyists, actors, consultants, militants, journalists, and broadcasters. While some organizations, entertainers, and tribes have sought to transform stereotypical images by working with television networks and federal institutions, other activists have engaged in confrontational politics to secure positions of power in television entertainment and news media. Additionally, Indigenous entertainers and Native broadcasters have maintained associations to provide training, job placement, and the necessary support to sustain them in their careers.

At a time when most Americans are calling attention to the poor quality of television and its destructive impact on society as a whole, this history of Indigenous activism informs other historical efforts to transform television into a productive form of entertainment. In opposing the television industry, Indigenous organizations often formed meaningful alliances with other ethnic groups in the United States to secure their goals. Therefore, this project investigates the function of race and colonialism in America through television, but more importantly, how Native peoples expressed their own visions for the future of television programming and utilized existing interethnic alliances to secure cultural sovereignty.