A prominent Native American producer and activist has been accused of faking her Cherokee heritage – with a leading tribal watchdog group now saying she has usurped “real Native American voices and perspectives” for her own gain.
56-year-old Heather Rae, producer of several films starring Ellen Page, is currently a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures’ Indigenous Alliance and once directed the Sundance Institute’s Native American program.
Born in California but raised in Idaho, Rae is perhaps best known for Frozen River, a Sundance Award-winning film that was nominated for an Oscar, and 2005’s Trudell, an acclaimed documentary about the notable Native American John Trudell.
Throughout her career, Rae has been celebrated for her committed Cherokee roots – she was named a Top Visionary by Variety in 2009 and enjoys top spots in two of the most well-known Native American factions in the world’s film organizations.
More recently, she was tapped to broker an academy apology to the estate of Sacheen Littlefeather, the Native American activist who famously turned down Marlon Brando’s 1973 Best Actor Oscar to draw attention to the plight of her and others .
However, her two surviving sisters exposed her as an ethnic impostor after her death in October, revealing that she was in fact Hispanic.
Heather Rae, a filmmaker who is currently a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures’ Indigenous Alliance and once directed the Sundance Institute’s Native American program, has been accused of faking her Native American heritage
The Oscar-nominated filmmaker (above left) recently brokered an apology from the Academy to Sacheen Littlefeather (seen seated), the Native American activist who famously turned down Marlon Brando’s 1973 Oscar to draw attention to her and others’ plight . The pair were spotted last September with Bird Runningwater, the co-chair of the academy’s Indigenous Alliance
Littlefeather caused shockwaves in the ’70s when she gave a speech on Brando’s behalf about how “her people” were treated in Hollywood. She was exposed as a fraud after her death in October at the age of 75
Well, according to the Tribal Alliance Against Frauds [TAAF]it appears Rae is the latest figure to be outed as a “Pretendian” – a term for a person who falsely claims to have Indigenous ancestry – with the group providing census records and birth certificates going back hundreds of years to support their claims to substantiate .
A report citing the research, “Heather Rae has built a long and impressive résumé as a Cherokee producer, positioning herself as perhaps a pivotal figure in Native American media production, sitting on boards and acting as a gatekeeper for Native artists.
“But even a cursory look at her family tree indicates that this career has been built on a lie: Heather Rae is a white woman who lacks any Native American ancestry, Cherokee or otherwise. Put simply, she has none. Zero.’
The report goes on to present a 1969 certificate of divorce from both of Rae’s parents, Vernon and Barbara Bybee, listing them as white.
As they ventured further down the figurative rabbit hole that describes Rae’s bloodline, TAAF officials said it’s becoming increasingly clear that neither parent had any connection to the tribe her daughter now claims.
Census records dating back to the 18th century show that a paternal ancestor arrived in Virginia from England before the Pilgrims.
As for her mother — who Rae says was the source of her Cherokee heritage — documents show little to no evidence of any Cherokee connection.
The report adds of her distinctly “Anglo-American” roots: “Her paternal side was composed primarily of Mormons who had lived in Utah and Idaho since the mid-19th century. \
Records further show how Rae’s ancestors lived in lands that were historically part of the Cherokee Nation, such as Kentucky and Tennessee, but occupied the territory as white, European settlers.
‘Rae’s great-great-great-grandparents Byrum Lee Bybee (1799-1864) and Elizabeth Lane (1802-1867) were the first to move west from Kentucky as overland Mormon pioneers.
The report goes on to present a 1969 certificate of divorce from both of Rae’s parents, Vernon and Barbara Bybee, listing them as white.
Census records dating back to 1950 show Rae’s white ancestry. This 1950 US Census shows how all of her family members identified as White at the time
Records show how Rae’s ancestors lived in lands that were historically part of the Cherokee Nation, such as Kentucky and Tennessee, but occupied the territory as white settlers
See more documents here that purportedly refute Rae’s claims regarding her heritage
“Her paternal grandmother, Ethel Harper Bybee, is the great-granddaughter of English immigrant and Mormon pioneer Thomas Harper, who was a proponent of polygamy.”
The document goes on to describe how Rae’s earliest known patriarch was from England, marrying a 16-year-old bride in Salt Lake City in 1883 while married to Rae’s great-great-great-grandmother, whose ancestors “are almost entirely of British Isles origin , and most were English.’
“She really is an Anglo-American.”
Her father’s side — whom Rae never claimed was responsible for her “half Cherokee” heritage — was mostly white Mormon, according to the report posted online March 11.
It also contains more than a dozen 17th-century documents, all of which indicate that every person in Rae’s family identified themselves as white.
Documents cited by the agency — tasked with keeping tabs on increasingly common “Pretendian” practice — included divorce records, birth and death certificates, military registration cards, and even genealogical reports with no trace of Native American DNA show.
TAAF director Lianna Costantino has since confirmed the legitimacy of the report and confirmed that her agency was responsible for the research.
In a statement Sunday, the representative condemned Rae for her alleged conduct and accused her and others’ actions of harming the already disenfranchised Native American community.
“Being a Native American person isn’t just about who you say you are, it’s who you claim to be,” she said, before adding, “It’s about a lot more than just race. We are citizens of sovereign nations. Being an Indian is a legal, political distinction.’
The report’s authors acknowledged that there is a slight possibility that Rae’s claim to Cherokee ancestry rests with her maternal great-great-great-great-grandmother, Jane E. Lassiter (seen here), but said that Records indicate that Lassiter was 100 percent white
Rae – whose real last name is also Bybee – previously claimed she was half Cherokee, saying that “my mother was Indian and my father was a cowboy.”
Several news outlets have repeated this claim, citing the producer as the father of a Cherokee mother.
However, the report’s authors acknowledged that there is a small possibility that Rae’s claim to Cherokee ancestry rests with her great-great-great-great-maternal grandmother, Jane E. Lassiter.
Lassiter was born in South Carolina in 1807 and died in Oklahoma in 1889. At that time, the area was considered Indian territory.
Her father, Archibald Lassiter, born in North Carolina in 1775, was a white settler who was awarded Cherokee lands in Georgia in an 1832 lottery after “the Cherokee were removed from their homelands,” says the report.
This lottery, writes the TAAF, was “open to non-Cherokees only.”
The group adds that winning such a lottery is all that serves as “conclusive proof that the ancestor is NOT a Cherokee” and shows that Rae’s family histories “have no factual basis.”
The group adds that “even if Archibald was 1/8 Cherokee, as his descendants are claimed to be,” Rae would only be 1/2048 Cherokee.
“She has more Pennsylvania Dutch (early German immigrants) ancestry than that — which isn’t much compared to her British ancestry, either,” the report punctuates.
reached out to Rae’s attorney on Sunday for comment on the TAAF’s claims and supporting research, but did not immediately receive a response.
As previously mentioned, she was hired by the Academy last year to broker an agreement between the movie giant and Littlefeather, who was blacklisted in Hollywood for appearing on Brando’s behalf to deny his award while claiming she was be Apache.
Rae has three children – the eldest of whom is 20-year-old Dexter star Johnny Sequoyah. The couple is seen here with Crystal EchoHawk, founder of IllumiNative – another American narrative group Rae works with – at the premiere of Rae’s “Fancy Dance” at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, which was partially funded by the Cherokee Nation
The model’s actions served to highlight the Native American activism that was swirling at the time, with her defiant action ever since she stood at the forefront of the collective American consciousness decades later.
However, in October, after similar hoaxes had come to light, it was revealed that Littlefeather was also a hypocrite.
“It’s a lie,” her sister Trudy Orlandi told the San Francisco Chronicle late last year after her death at the age of 75.
“My father was who he was. His family came from Mexico. And my father was born in Oxnard.”
Sister Rosalind Cruz agreed, “This is cheating. It’s disgusting to tribal heritage. And it’s just… an insult to my parents.”
As for Rae — who has a tattoo of a Cherokee corn goddess and joined the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2016 — it remains to be seen how her status as a leading figure in the Native American activism scene will be affected by the TAAF’s revelations.
Aside from 2016’s Tallulah with transgender actor Page, Rae has produced a variety of processual work – including a recent project, Fancy Dance, which was funded in part by the Cherokee Nation.
The film is about a Native American woman who kidnaps her niece from the girl’s white grandparents and premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year.
Such work demonstrates that Rae, despite not being an officially inscribed member of any tribal nation, continued to hold strongly to her “Native American” ancestry throughout her decades-long producing and directing career.
In addition to the high-profile position she enjoys at the Indigenous Alliance — one of the most important organizations in the world when it comes to Native American outreach efforts — she also works as a narrative change strategist for IllumiNative, an “uncompromisingly ambitious and… innovative racial and social justice organization led by local women.
The group’s mission statement, according to its website, is to amplify “contemporary Native American voices” while challenging the “invisibility” of Native Americans.
She is married to Hollywood producer Russell Friedenberg, with whom she shares three children – the eldest of whom is 20-year-old actress Johnny Sequoyah, who currently stars in the ongoing reboot of Showtime drama Dexter.
In 2009, Variety named her its top visionary, citing her half-Cherokee roots.