From battlefields to ballet stages, these five Native American leaders broke barriers and defied expectations.

Historian Zonnie Gorman, whose father was one of the original Navajo Code Talker, discusses the unit’s herculean efforts during World War II.

Samuel F. Sandoval, one of the four surviving Navajo Code Talkers, discusses his military career and the Navajo language.

From Chunkey in 600 CE to NASCAR today, America’s been racing wheels for centuries—it all started with the Cahokia people.