Thomas Banyacya, Sr. (June 2, 1909 – February 6, 1999) was a Hopi Native American traditionalist leader.Roads in the Sky: The Hopi Indians in a Century of Change, by Richard O. Clemmer. Boulder: West- view Press, 1995. xiv, 377 pp.Voice of Indigenous People, Clearlight Publishers, 1994, Santa Fe, New Mexico; Unser Ende ist Euer Untergang - Die Botschaft der Hopi an die Welt, Alexander Buschenreiter, 1991, Lamuv Verlag ; Our end is your downfall - The Message of the Hopi to the World, Alexander Buschenreiter, 1991, Lamuv Verlag Publishers, Gottingen, Germany

Biography Thomas Banyacya was born on June 2, 1909, and grew up in the village of Moenkopi, Arizona. He was a member of the Wolf, Fox, and Coyote clans. He first attended Sherman Indian School in Riverside, California and then Bacone College in Muskogee, Oklahoma.https://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/15/us/thomas-banyacya-89-teller-of-hopi-prophecy-to-world.html; retrieved July 4, 2025

Thomas Banyacya lived in Kykotsmovi, Arizona, on Hopi Tutskwa, the Hopi Reservation. During World War II, Banyacya was a draft resister, who spent time in prison over seven years each time he refused to register for the draft. In 1948, he was one of four Hopis (the other were David Monongye, Dan Evehema, and Dan Katchongva) who were named by elders to communicate Hopi traditional wisdom and teachings, including the Hopi prophecies for the future, to the general public, after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan.Thomas, Robert McG., Jr. "Thomas Banyacya, 89, Teller Of Hopi Prophecy to World." New York Times. Feb 15, 1999 (retrieved Jan 28, 2011)

He addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 11, 1992 in celebrating the "Year of Indigenous Peoples" UN Audiovisual Library Special Ceremony: International Year of World's Indigenous People - Part 5 Video Length 00:34:58 Production Date 10 December 1992 Asset Language Original English Personal Subject THOMAS BANYACYA https://media.un.org/avlibrary/en/asset/d230/d2308616 retrieved April 14, 2026 Clemmer, Richard O. , Roads on the Sky, Westview Press,1995https://media.un.org/avlibrary/en/asset/d230/d2308616

Thomas Banyacya died on February 6, 1999, in Keams Canyon, Arizona. He was married to Fermina (née Jenkins).

See also

Janet McCloud Hibakusha Uranium in the environment Anti-nuclear movement in the United States The Navajo People and Uranium Mining

References

http://banyacya.indigenousnative.org/preun92.html Banyaca's letter to Javier Pérez de Cuéllar

External links

"Voice of Indigenous People – Native People Address the United Nations" Edited by Alexander Ewen, Clear Light Publishers, Santa Fe New Mexico, 1994, 176 pages. Thomas Banyacya et al. at the United Nations

Thomas Banyacya, address to the General Assembly, 1992, UN Media Library archive https://media.un.org/avlibrary/en/asset/d230/d2308616 Native Americans in the twentieth century By James Stuart Olson, Raymond Wilson, VNR AG, 1984 Remembering Thomas Banyacya Testimony/ Thomas Banyacya Sr., World Uranium Hearings, 14 September 1992, Salzburg Thomas Banyacya Hopi Traditional Elder Uranium Mining and Indigenous People