John Mohawk, a leading scholar and spokesman for the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy, was a leading advocate for the rights of the Iroquois Confederacy and of Indigenous people worldwide. He served as director of Indigenous Studies at the Center for the Americas at the State University of New York at Buffalo. He died December 2, 2006, in Buffalo, New York.

José Barreiro currently serves as assistant director for history and culture research and also directs the Office for Latin America at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. A member of the Taino Nation of the Antilles, Dr. Barreiro, a pioneering figure in Native American journalism and publishing, was an early editor and contributor at Akwesasne Notes (1976–1984). He and John Mohawk founded the Indigenous Peoples Network.