John Mohawk was a Seneca, born into the Turtle (ha'no:wa:h) clan on the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation Ga'dagesgeo', located in western New York State.
He graduated from Hartwick College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history in 1967, and later earned a Ph.D. from the University at Buffalo.
Mohawk was a co-founder of several organizations supporting Native Americans in the United States and internationally, such as the Indigenous Peoples Network and the Emergency Response International Network, the Seventh Generation Fund,[2] the Indian Law Resource Center and the Iroquois White Corn Project.
He was also a co-editor of Exiled in the Land of the Free (with Oren Lyons ), and primary author of A Basic Call to Consciousness (Akwesasne Notes/Farm Publishing Company), the classic collective work of the Haudenosaunee Grand Council (c. 1976-77) on the meaning of traditionalism as a guide to political activism.
He was a Doctor Honoris Causa of several universities, winner of journalism awards Native American Journalists Association (NAJA), as well as a father and grandfather, teacher and educator of several generations of Indian people, a shaper of activist scholars, and a generous mentor.