Melvin Thom (born July 28, 1938) was born on the Walker River Paiute reservation in Schurz, Nevada.Shreve, Bradley Glenn. "Red Power Rising: The National Indian Youth Council and the Origins of Intertribal Activism." p.159 Diss. U of Mexico, 2007. A leader in the movement for Native American civil rights, Thom was one of the founders of the National Indian Youth Council in the 1960s.Cobb, Daniel M.(2008). ''Native Activism In Cold War America: The Struggle for Sovereignty'', University Press of Kansas, Kansas. .

Background

Thom graduated from Lyon County High School in

Yerington, Nevada Yerington is a city in Lyon County, Nevada, United States. The population was 3,121 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the current county seat of Lyon County, with the first county seat having been established at Dayton, Nevad ...

and then studied civil engineering at

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is the flagship university of the Church Educational System sponsore ...

. At BYU, he was President of the Tribe of Many Feathers Club for three years and also President of the Southwest Regional Indian Youth Council.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thom, Mel Native American activists Northern Paiute people Brigham Young University alumni 1938 births Living people People from Mineral County, Nevada People from Yerington, Nevada Activists from Nevada 20th-century Native American people 21st-century Native American people