Subaltern social groups do not see their conceptualizations of leadership represented by the images of leadership and leaders portrayed in the narratives of the “official” history of their countries. This article draws from the experience of an American Indian summer leadership camp in the United States (US) where memory is used by the organization as a resource for legitimizing their power and leadership perspectives to effect social change. Through a leadership work based on rhetoric and framing to decolonize the dominant history of the US, a process of collective sense and meaning-making is unfolded. This work of leadership builds collective agency that contributes to legitimize both American Indian memories and leadership perspectives. Through legitimacy, subordinated social groups develop the capacity to justify that they hold the power to govern themselves and not just to consent and submit to external actors. Eventually, legitimacy of memory and leadership perspectives can be leveraged as power since the group believes in their potential. Through a critical approach drawing from history and sociology, the study contributes insights to both the social change and the Indigenous leadership literature.

次要社会群体看不到他们国家的“官方”历史叙述中所描绘的领导和领导者形象所代表的领导概念。本文借鉴了在美国（美国）举行的美国印第安人夏季领导力训练营的经验，在该训练营中，组织将记忆用作使他们的权力和领导力观点合法化以实现社会变革的资源。通过基于言辞和框架的领导工作来非殖民化美国的主导历史，集体意识和意义表达的过程得以展开。领导的这项工作建立了集体代理，有助于使美洲印第安人的记忆和领导观点合法化。通过合法性，下属的社会团体发展出能力来证明他们拥有统治自己而不是仅仅同意并服从外部行为者的权力。最终，由于团队相信自己的潜力，因此记忆力和领导力观点的合法性可以被利用为力量。通过历史和社会学的批判性方法，该研究为社会变革和土著领导文学提供了见识。