Author Vine Deloria Jr. has been selected to receive the American Indian Visionary Award by the newspaper Indian Country Today.

Deloria, a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, was chosen for displaying ''the highest qualities and attributes of leadership in defending the foundations of American Indian freedom.'' He is being honored for his work as executive director of the National Congress of American Indians to more than 20 scholarly books about Indian political, cultural, legal and historical issues.

ICT publishes several essays from activist Suzan Shown Harjo, former Cherokee Nation chief Wilma Mankiller and Deloria's son, Philip, about Deloria's impact on Indian Country. Mankiller says Deloria has been called the Indian Martin Luther King.

Deloria will receive his award on March 2 in Washington, D.C. The first winner of the award was Billy Frank, a member of the Nisqually Tribe of Washington and fishing rights advocate.

Get the Story:
Vine Deloria Jr., American Indian Visionary 2005 (Indian Country Today 1/10)
Harjo: Selective memories of Vine Deloria Jr. (Indian Country Today 1/10)
Wilkins: Visionary thinker and wordsmith par excellence (Indian Country Today 1/10)
Adams: A Vine Deloria Jr. collaboration: The first decade (Indian Country Today 1/10)
Mankiller: An original thinker with a warrior's spirit (Indian Country Today 1/10)
Mohawk: Vine Deloria Jr.'s unfolding legacy (Indian Country Today 1/10)
Deloria: Tales of a remarkable father (Indian Country Today 1/10)
Hill: A hero to manyt (Indian Country Today 1/10)