Thomas Banyacya
Thomas Banyacya was a Hopi Native American traditional leader. In 1948, he was one of four Hopis who were named by elders to reveal Hopi traditional wisdom and teachings, including the Hopi prophecies for the future, to the general public, after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. Banyacya was a member of the Wolf, Fox, and Coyote clans.Background
Banyacya grew up in the village of Moenkopi, Arizona and first attended Sherman Indian School in Riverside, California and then Bacone College in Muskogee, Oklahoma. He lived in Kykotsmovi, Arizona on the Hopi Reservation. During World War II, Banyacya was a draft resister, who spent time in prison over seven years each time he refused to register for the draft.Death
Banyacya died on February 6, 1999 in Keams Canyon, Arizona.
