Native American Leader, Historian, and Anthropologist. Henry M. Owl, one of ten children of David Lloyd Owl, a Cherokee, and Nettie Harris Owl, a Catawba, was an enrolled member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, born on the Cherokee reservation in 1896. In 1918 he joined the U.S. Army before beginning teaching in Oklahoma. He would go on to be a teacher or administrator at several Bureau of Indian Affairs schools across the United States. He was the first Native American and the first person of color to attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He earned his MA degree from UNC-CH in 1929. His master's thesis was titled "The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians: Before and After the Removal." In 1930, Swain Country, North Carolina, used a literacy test to prevent Cherokees from voting. When he was refused the right to vote, he presented his master's thesis as indisputable evidence that he could read. He was again refused the right to vote, this time with the argument that Indians were not U. S. citizens. He pointed to a federal law passed in 1924 making all Native Americans U. S. citizens. He still was not allowed to vote. He ended up testifying before Congress about the discrimination. His testimony resulted in a law guaranteeing the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians citizenship and the right to vote. He became the face of the fight for Cherokee civil rights and Native American rights in general. In 1933, he married Mildred Hunt Owl on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota, and they had one son, Fredrick Owl, born in Wyoming, and three daughters, Grace Toineeta Owl, Gladys Owl, and Mildred Frances Owl, all born in Montana. When he passed away in Seattle in 1980, he was employed by Boeing, the largest manufacturer of airplanes on the planet. In 2014, the University of North Carolina named a scholarship in his honor. In 2022, UNC-CH named a building on campus in his honor. Among the speakers at the dedication was Colby Taylor, a current Cherokee student at the University of North Carolina, who said, "When reading about Mr. Owl, one word came to mind – courage. This is because Mr. Owl exemplifies the very definition of the word. I say this because my definition of courage is the choice and willingness to be uncomfortable. I had to ask myself, would I have the courage to serve in the military for a country where I would not even be recognized as a full citizen? Would I have been courageous enough to become the first Native American and the first person of color to attend Carolina? Would I have been courageous enough to challenge racist voting laws?" The actual dedication was made in both English and the Cherokee language. The university presented bound copies of Owl's thesis to both his daughter, Gladys Owl Cardiff, and to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.