Famous Yurok

Famous Yurok Chiefs and Leaders

The Yurok, whose name means “downriver people” in the neighboring Karuk language, lived in northwestern California near the Klamath River and Pacific coast. They are enrolled in eleven different federally recognized tribes today.

Rick Bartow (b. 1946), painter, printmaker, and sculptor

Archie Thompson (1919–2013), elder who helped revitalize the Yurok language

Lucy Thompson (1856–1932), first indigenous Californian woman to be published.

Yurok Tribes

Big Lagoon Rancheria (Yurok and Tolowa )
Blue Lake Rancheria (Wiyot, Yurok, Tolowa, and Cherokee)
Cher-Ae Heights Indian Community of the Trinidad Rancheria (Chetco, Hupa, Karuk, Tolowa, Wiyot, and Yurok)
Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians of Oregon (5,000 members from 29 tribes, including Yurok and about 3,500 Chetco and Tututni)
Elk Valley Rancheria (Tolowa and Yurok)
Hoopa Valley Tribe (Hupa and Yurok)
Klamath Tribes (Klamath, Modoc, Yahooskin, and Yurok)
Quartz Valley Indian Community of the Quartz Valley Reservation of California (Klamath, Karuk, Shasta, and Yurok)
Resighini Rancheria (Yurok)
Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation (Smith River Rancheria) (Tolowa, Chetco, Yurok)
Yurok Tribe of the Yurok Reservation (Yurok)