Author Vine Deloria dies at 72

November 15, 2005

Native American author and activist Vine Deloria died Sunday. He was 72.

Deloria's books Custer Died For Your Sins and God Is Red came out at the height of the Indian rights movement. Custer Died For Your Sins initiated drastic changes in the way anthropologists and government officials interacted with Native Americans, including the movement to return artifacts to tribal officials.

In addition to writing and lecturing, he was former executive director of the National Congress of American Indians and a political science professor at the University of Colorado.