by Travis Campbell
The world’s oldest Native American student newspaper The Indian Leader celebrated 120 years
of publication with an evening of speakers followed by a brief reception in the Auditorium at
Haskell Indian Nations University.
The evening commenced with an honor song sung by Haskell’s own Ron Brave, followed by a
reading of the mayoral proclamation declaring November 8th, 2017
to be “Indian Leader Day” in
Lawrence by Allen Stephenson. Stephenson was followed by remarks on the importance of maintaining
a Native American presence in journalism by Dr. Venida Chenault, President of Haskell
Indian Nations University.
Fellow journalists and media personalities also gave video congratulations to the newspaper,
many included other tribal newspapers, representatives from the Native American Journalists Association
and local radio personality Lazlo of 96.5 The Buzz in Kansas City.
A brief history of the newspaper by former editor, Lori Hasselman. Kevin Abourezk of Indianz.
com was the featured speaker at the event.
Abourezk spoke about his own experiences in journalism beginning with his interest in writing as
a young child. He went on to discuss his time at the University of Nebraska and his career with
the Lincoln Journal Star in Lincoln, Nebraska,
before joining indianz.com in 2017.
The staff of the Indian Leader would like to extend a special thanks to faculty advisor, Rhonda
LeValdo, without whose tireless efforts, experience, and determination achieving this milestone
would not have been possible
