27 Facts About Grace Thorpe

Grace Frances Thorpe was an American environmentalist and Native rights activist.

Grace Thorpe served with the Women's Army Corps and received a Bronze Star Medal for her service as a Corporal in the New Guinea campaign.

Grace Thorpe attended the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and the Antioch School of Law, and went on to become a tribal district court judge.

Grace Thorpe's father was well-known American football player and Olympic athlete Jim Thorpe.

Grace Thorpe's tribal heritage included Potawatomi, Kickapoo, Sac and Fox, and Menominee ancestry, and she was a direct descendant of Sac and Fox chief Black Hawk.

Grace Thorpe was born in Yale, Oklahoma in the only house her father ever owned.

Grace Thorpe was the youngest of four; her oldest sister Gail Margaret was born in 1917, her brother James in 1918, and her sister Charlotte Marie in 1919.

Grace Thorpe lived with both parents for several years before finishing high school.

Grace Thorpe remained close with her father and visited him frequently as he moved around the country.

Grace Thorpe wanted to travel and serve her country during World War II.

Grace Thorpe began work in Japan at General MacArthur Headquarters as Chief of the Recruitment Section, Department of Army Civilians, Tokyo.

In 1967, Grace Thorpe moved to Arizona and began to focus on her activism.

Grace Frances Thorpe died on April 1,2008, from complications following a heart attack.

Grace Thorpe is remembered for her military, legal, and activist legacy.

In 1943, Grace Thorpe enlisted in the military and joined the Women's Army Corps.

Oglethorpe, Georgia, Grace Thorpe was elevated to the rank of Corporal.

Grace Thorpe served as a Recruiter for the Women's Army Corps in Tucson and Camp White in Oregon until she was assigned to the New Guinea campaign.

Grace Thorpe was stationed in the Philippines and Japan.

Grace Thorpe was later awarded a Bronze Star for her service in the battle of New Guinea.

In late 1969 and 1970, Grace Thorpe joined a group of Native activists in their occupation of Alcatraz Island off the coast of San Francisco.

Grace Thorpe successfully secured a generator, water barge, and ambulance service for the group.

In 1971 Grace Thorpe cofounded the National Indian Women's Action Corps, a group that focused on empowering Native women and strengthening indigenous family units.

Grace Thorpe then became a member of the American Indian Policy Review Board, working in Communications and Public Information.

Grace Thorpe earned a paralegal degree from Antioch School of Law in 1974 and earned her bachelor's degree in American Indian Law at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in 1980.

Grace Thorpe worked as a part-time district court judge for the Five Tribes of Oklahoma.

Grace Thorpe researched nuclear waste and its hazards, as well as the details of the funding, most of which in fact went to lawyers and consultants.

Grace Thorpe started working to convince her tribe to withdraw from the program, and went through the process outlined in the Sac and Fox constitution to reverse the decision of the elected tribal leaders; she gathered signatures of 50 tribe members on a petition calling for a special meeting, and at that meeting on February 29,1992,70 out of 75 members present voted to withdraw from the MRS program.