Laura Mae Bergt (née Beltz; October 1, 1940 – March 14, 1984) was an Iñupiaq athlete, model, politician, and activist for the Iñupiat and other Indigenous Alaskans.

She worked as a promoter for the new state of Alaska attending trade shows and making marketing appearances as a spokeswoman and guest on radio and television programs.

From the 1960s, she worked in various policy positions at the tribal, local, state, and national level to address issues like disability, education, employment opportunities, housing, and poverty, and promoting the rights of Indigenous people.

In 1968, Bergt testified before the United States House of Representatives on the importance of settling Native claims to provide adequate funding for development of programs to address tribal issues and protect Indigenous hunting and fishing rights.

Her personal relationship with Vice President Spiro Agnew and her appointment in 1970 to the National Council on Indian Opportunity were pivotal in obtaining passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act in 1971.

Edgecumbe High School, is named in her honor and she was the inaugural recipient of the Frank Whaley Award, which recognizes outstanding service to the Eskimo Olympics.

[26] The settlement was critical, as the Natives were asking for monetary amounts to be used for capital development, the creation of villages of their own, and protection of their hunting and fishing rights on federal lands.

[27] Since 1966, Stewart Udall, Secretary of the Interior, had halted any state land patents, impacting oil and gas leases proposed for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, until Native claims were settled.

[29] In her testimony, Bergt stressed that despite government programs, there were inadequate medical facilities and health services, difficulties of communication with remote villages, poor housing and sanitation, and extreme poverty among Indigenous people.

[31] Bergt was invited to attend the inauguration of President Richard Nixon, who named her to join the National Council on Indian Opportunity (NCIO) in August 1970 for a two-year term.

Two others allowed Indigenous people to transfer their civil service status if they changed from federal to tribal programs and to control livestock which trespassed on their lands.

[41] From the Native perspective, according to Bergt, the meeting marked a turning-point in negotiations, as thereafter government authorities allowed their counsel to participate in the drafting of bills and gained a clear understanding of their demands for land and compensation.

[43] Bergt used her personal relationship with Agnew to continue pressing for focus on funding for educational training initiatives of Indigenous people during the post-settlement period.

[44] After her two-year appointment to the NCIO expired, Nixon asked her to serve on a six-member national committee of Indigenous leaders, which included Frank Belvin (Choctaw) of Muskogee, Oklahoma;[45][46] Harold Shunck (Yankton-Sioux) of Rapid City, South Dakota;[45][47] Neal McCaleb (Chickasaw) of Edmond, Oklahoma; John C. Rainer (Taos Pueblo) of Albuquerque, New Mexico;[45][46] and John Seneca (Seneca) of Washington, D.C.

[45] Among Bergt's many local initiatives were advocacy for textile and animal husbandry training, housing proposals, and employment of Native Alaskans on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System.

[2][51] Party members refused to endorse her candidacy, rejecting her because the appointment did not follow established protocols of coming from the prospective list supplied by the Fairbanks Republican District Committee.

[53] In May, Egan appointed Bergt to serve on the Reapportionment Board, which had been ordered by the Alaska Supreme Court to establish a permanent redistricting plan in accordance with the state constitution.

Also on the committee were Mary Jane Fate and author Thomas Richards, Jr.[59] They traveled throughout the state to evaluate if cultural preservation should focus on traditional or contemporary arts, possible locations for a facility and student housing options, and whether curricula should include courses on marketing and technological training as well.

[62] That year, she was also named by President Gerald Ford to serve on the United States Bicentennial Council to plan the 1976 celebrations in honor of the 200th anniversary of the American Revolution.

[48] She also took New York Senator James L. Buckley on a whaling expedition to Point Hope and made numerous appearances with activist Mary Jane Fate.

He credited the appointment of Bergt to the National Council on Indian Opportunity as the catalyst for overcoming differences between Native leaders and convincing the Nixon administration to support their claims in 1971.