Editing List of impostors (section)

===False minority national identity claims===
* [[H. G. Carrillo]] (1960–2020), American writer and assistant professor of English at [[George Washington University]] who claimed to be a Cuban immigrant despite having been born in [[Detroit]] to American parents<ref name=":0">{{Cite magazine|last=Jackson|first=Lauren Michele|title=The Layered Deceptions of Jessica Krug, the Black-Studies Professor Who Hid That She Is White|url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-layered-deceptions-of-jessica-krug-the-black-studies-professor-who-hid-that-she-is-white|access-date=2020-09-13|magazine=The New Yorker|date=12 September 2020|language=en-us}}</ref>
* [[Asa Earl Carter]] (1925–1979), who under the alias of supposedly [[Cherokee]] writer Forrest Carter authored several books, including ''[[The Education of Little Tree]]''
* [[Chief Buffalo Child Long Lance]] (1890–1932), an [[African American]] who claimed to be the son of a Blackfoot chief
* [[Iron Eyes Cody]] (1904–1999), [[Italian American]] actor (the "crying Indian chief" in the "[[Keep America Beautiful]]" [[public service announcement]]s in the early 1970s), who claimed to be of Cherokee-[[Cree]] ancestry
* [[Helen Darville]] (born 1972), Australian writer who falsely claimed Ukrainian ancestry as part of the basis of her novel ''The Hand that Signed the Paper'' about a Ukrainian family who collaborated with Nazis in the Holocaust
* [[Misha Defonseca]] (born Monique de Wael''',''' 1937) wrote a fraudulent autobiography in which she claimed to be a Jewish holocaust survivor, when in fact she has no Jewish descent and was born to Catholic parents. Her book, ''[[Misha: A Mémoire of the Holocaust Years]]'', received international fame. A documentary, ''[[Misha and the Wolves]]'', detailing the investigation into the fraud was released in 2021.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Eskin |first=Blake |date=2008-08-18 |title=The Girl Who Cried Wolf: A Holocaust Fairy Tale |url=https://www.bostonmagazine.com/2008/08/18/the-girl-who-cried-wolf-a-holocaust-fairy-tale/ |access-date=2023-10-30 |website=Boston Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref>
* [[Rachel Dolezal]] (born 1977), former president of the [[NAACP]] in [[Spokane, Washington]], who claimed [[African-American]] heritage despite being born to white parents<ref>{{cite web|url=http://people.com/celebrity/rachel-dolezal-admits-shes-white-on-the-real-video/|title=Rachel Dolezal Admits She Was 'Biologically Born White' but Maintains That She Identifies as Black}}</ref>
* [[Grey Owl]] (1888–1938), born Archibald Belaney, an Englishman who took on the identity of an [[Ojibwe]]
* [[Jamake Highwater]] (1931–2001), writer and journalist, born Jackie Marks into an [[Ashkenazi]] family who later claimed he was a [[Cherokee]] [[Native Americans in the United States|American Indian]]
* [[Daniel Lewis James]] (1911–1988), novelist who wrote under the name Danny Santiago
* [[Jessica A. Krug]] (aka Jess La Bombalera, born 1982), former associate professor at [[George Washington University]] who falsely claimed African, African-American, and Caribbean-American heritage throughout her career, despite being born to Jewish parents<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2020/09/03/white-gwu-professor-admits-she-falsely-claimed-black-identity/|title=White GWU professor admits she falsely claimed Black identity|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=2020-09-03|author=Lauren Lumpkin and Susan Svrluga}}</ref>
* [[Sacheen Littlefeather]] (Marie Louise Cruz, 1946–2022), model and activist who rejected Marlon Brando's Academy Award at the [[45th Academy Awards|1973 Oscars]] out of protest. Her Apache Indian impersonation was not made public until her funeral, when her sisters asserted their Mexican descent.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Keeler |first1=Jacqueline |title=Sacheen Littlefeather was a Native American icon. Her sisters say she was an ethnic fraud |url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/Sacheen-Littlefeather-oscar-Native-pretendian-17520648.php |website=[[San Francisco Chronicle]] |access-date=23 October 2022 |date=22 October 2022}}</ref>
* [[BethAnn McLaughlin]],  neuroscientist who impersonated a bisexual [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] using the [[Twitter]] handle "@Sciencing_bi"<ref name="NYT_4AUG">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/04/style/college-coronavirus-hoax.html|title=The Anonymous Professor Who Wasn't|first1=Jonah Engel|last1=Bromwich|first2=Ezra|last2=Marcus|newspaper=The New York Times |date=August 4, 2020}}</ref>
* [[Red Thunder Cloud]] (1919–1996), an [[African American]] who claimed to be the last speaker of the [[Catawba language]]
* [[Buffy Sainte-Marie]] (born 1941), an American singer-songwriter who claimed to be Canadian with [[Indigenous peoples in Canada|Canadian Indigenous]] Ancestry<ref name="CBC">{{cite news |last1=Leo |first1=Geoff |last2=Guerriero |first2=Linda |title=Who is the real Buffy Sainte-Marie |url=https://www.cbc.ca/newsinteractives/features/buffy-sainte-marie |access-date=25 October 2024 |agency=Canadian Broadcast Company |publisher=CBC News |date=27 October 2023}}</ref>
* [[Andrea Smith (academic)|Andrea Smith]], an American academic, feminist, and activist against violence who claimed Cherokee identity without proof or acceptance by the Cherokee nation<ref>{{Cite web|last=Jaschik|first=Scott|date=6 July 2015|title=Fake Cherokee? Scholar who has made name as Cherokee is accused of not having Native American roots|url=https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/07/06/scholar-who-has-made-name-cherokee-accused-not-having-native-american-roots|access-date=2020-09-10|website=www.insidehighered.com|language=en}}</ref>
* [[Two Moon Meridas]] (c. 1888–1933), seller of herbal medicine who claimed that he was of [[Sioux]] birth