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U of Illinois-American Indian Graduate

The University of Illinois will honor its first American Indian graduate by naming a dormitory after him.

The new Urbana-Champaign campus dorm will be named Wassaja Hall when it opens in August 2016. The name is expected to be approved by the university's board of trustees at their meeting Thursday.

Wassaja is the birth name of Carlos Montezuma. He graduated from the university in 1884.  He graduated from medical school, practiced medicine and advocated for American Indian rights.

Montezuma was a Yavapai born in Arizona in 1866. He was stolen as a child and sold into servitude and performed with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. 

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