Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz is an American historian, writer, professor, and activist based in San Francisco. She was born on September 10, 1938, in Texas and grew up in Oklahoma. Dunbar-Ortiz is a social justice and feminist activist known for her lifelong commitment to national and international social justice issues.

She has written numerous books including Blood on the Border: A Memoir of the Contra Years (2005), Red Dirt: Growing up Okie (1992), and An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States (2014), which was a recipient of the 2015 American Book Award. She is also noted for her work in the international Indigenous movement for more than four decades.

Dunbar-Ortiz is a winner of the 2017 Lannan Cultural Freedom Prize and is professor emeritus in Ethnic Studies at California State University. She resides in San Francisco.