Red Power movement
Encyclopedia
The phrase "Red Power", attributed to the author Vine Deloria, Jr.
, commonly expressed a growing sense of pan-Indian identity in the late 1960s among American Indians
in the United States.
The major catalyst of Red Power was the occupation of the deserted federal prison
on Alcatraz Island
in San Francisco Bay
on November 20, 1969. A group of 89 Indians, mostly college students who identified themselves as "Indians of All Tribes", claimed the island according to the terms of an 1868 US treaty with the Sioux
, which gave Indians rights to unused federal property on Indian land. The group demanded federal funds for a multifaceted cultural and educational center. They were visited by many activists and inspired other events. For instance, the following year on Thanksgiving
1970, the American Indian Movement
(AIM) led their first protest: painting Plymouth Rock
red and occupying the Mayflower II
in Boston. For the next year and a half at Alcatraz, a force averaging around 100, and a stream of visitors from numerous tribes, celebrated the occupation of the island. Although the protesters ultimately failed to achieve their specific goals, they helped catalyze the Indian community. With the occupation of Alcatraz, a participant said, "we got back our worth, our pride, our dignity, our humanity."
At the forefront of the Red Power Movement was AIM, which was founded in 1968 in Minneapolis, Minnesota
. Its members belonged to and represented mainly urban Indian communities, and its leaders were young and militant. Like the Black Panthers and Brown Berets
, AIM was initially organized to work for Indian civil rights in cities. Its members monitored law enforcement practices, and worked to highlight and prevent police harassment and brutality. AIM soon played a major role in building a network of urban Indian
centers, churches and philanthropic organizations. It helped establish the "powwow circuit," which publicized news of protest activities across the country. Skillful in attracting attention from the news media, AIM inspired local chapters and writing about American Indian political issues.
At the same time, many young Indians began to turn to their elders to learn tribal ways, including traditional dress and spiritual practices. The activism led to decades of changes among American Indian communities, and increasing self-government at the tribal level.
The 1960s also marked the beginning of an "Indian Renaissance" in literature. New books such as Vine Deloria, Jr.'s Custer Died for Your Sins (1969) and the classic Black Elk Speaks
(1961), reprinted from the 1930s, reached millions of readers inside and outside Indian communities. A wide variety of Indian writers, historians, and essayists gained publication following these successes and new authors were widely read. N. Scott Momaday
won the Pulitzer Prize
for one of his novels and Leslie Silko received acclaim. Fiction and nonfiction works about Indian life and lore have continued to attract a large audience. Authors such as Louise Erdrich
and Michael Dorris
have earned continued recognition. Since the late twentieth century, novels by Sherman Alexie
have been adapted for film as well.
From 1969 to the Longest Walk of 1978, the Red Power Movement highlighted issues through social protest. Its goals were for the federal government to honor treaty obligations and provide financial "resources, education, housing and healthcare to alleviate poverty." The ARPM wanted to gain Indian participation in social institutions; it was instrumental in supporting the founding of Indian colleges, as well as the creation of Indian studies programs at existing institutions, and the establishment of museums and cultural centers to celebrate Indian contributions.
The Red Power movement had accomplished many of its goals by the time direct social activism declined in the late 1970s. "By the early 1980s, over 100 Indian studies programs had been created in the United States. Tribal museums opened." Among the most prominent of the cultural centers is the National Museum of the American Indian
(NMAI), which was authorized by the US Congress in 1989 and opened on the Mall
in Washington, DC in 2004. It also has a branch at the former US Customs House, on the Bowling Green in Lower Manhattan
.
Indigenous rights has become an international issue, as activist groups have arisen in many nations. The United Nations has officially recognized an international indigenous rights movement.
Vine Deloria, Jr.
Vine Deloria, Jr. was an American Indian author, theologian, historian, and activist. He was widely known for his book Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto , which helped generate national attention to Native American issues in the same year as the Alcatraz-Red Power Movement...
, commonly expressed a growing sense of pan-Indian identity in the late 1960s among American Indians
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
in the United States.
The major catalyst of Red Power was the occupation of the deserted federal prison
Occupation of Alcatraz
The Occupation of Alcatraz was an occupation of Alcatraz Island by the group Indians of All Tribes . The Alcatraz Occupation lasted for nineteen months, from November 20, 1969, to June 11, 1971, and was forcibly ended by the U.S. government.-Background:...
on Alcatraz Island
Alcatraz Island
Alcatraz Island is an island located in the San Francisco Bay, offshore from San Francisco, California, United States. Often referred to as "The Rock" or simply "Traz", the small island was developed with facilities for a lighthouse, a military fortification, a military prison, and a Federal...
in San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean...
on November 20, 1969. A group of 89 Indians, mostly college students who identified themselves as "Indians of All Tribes", claimed the island according to the terms of an 1868 US treaty with the Sioux
Sioux
The Sioux are Native American and First Nations people in North America. The term can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation or any of the nation's many language dialects...
, which gave Indians rights to unused federal property on Indian land. The group demanded federal funds for a multifaceted cultural and educational center. They were visited by many activists and inspired other events. For instance, the following year on Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Thanksgiving is celebrated each year on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. In Canada, Thanksgiving falls on the same day as Columbus Day in the...
1970, the American Indian Movement
American Indian Movement
The American Indian Movement is a Native American activist organization in the United States, founded in 1968 in Minneapolis, Minnesota by urban Native Americans. The national AIM agenda focuses on spirituality, leadership, and sovereignty...
(AIM) led their first protest: painting Plymouth Rock
Plymouth Rock
Plymouth Rock is the traditional site of disembarkation of William Bradford and the Mayflower Pilgrims who founded Plymouth Colony in 1620. It is an important symbol in American history...
red and occupying the Mayflower II
Mayflower II
The Mayflower II is a replica of the 17th century ship Mayflower, celebrated for transporting the Pilgrims to the New World.The replica was built in Devon, England, during 1955–1956, in a collaboration between Englishman Warwick Charlton and Plimoth Plantation, an American museum...
in Boston. For the next year and a half at Alcatraz, a force averaging around 100, and a stream of visitors from numerous tribes, celebrated the occupation of the island. Although the protesters ultimately failed to achieve their specific goals, they helped catalyze the Indian community. With the occupation of Alcatraz, a participant said, "we got back our worth, our pride, our dignity, our humanity."
At the forefront of the Red Power Movement was AIM, which was founded in 1968 in Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
. Its members belonged to and represented mainly urban Indian communities, and its leaders were young and militant. Like the Black Panthers and Brown Berets
Brown Berets
The Brown Berets is a Chicano nationalist activist group of young Mexican Americans that emerged during the Chicano Movement in the late 1960s and remains active to the present day. The group was seen as part of the Third Movement for Liberation. The Brown Berets focus on community organizing...
, AIM was initially organized to work for Indian civil rights in cities. Its members monitored law enforcement practices, and worked to highlight and prevent police harassment and brutality. AIM soon played a major role in building a network of urban Indian
Urban Indian
Urban Indians are Native Americans in the United States who live in urban areas. Urban Indians represent a growing proportion of the Native population in the United States...
centers, churches and philanthropic organizations. It helped establish the "powwow circuit," which publicized news of protest activities across the country. Skillful in attracting attention from the news media, AIM inspired local chapters and writing about American Indian political issues.
At the same time, many young Indians began to turn to their elders to learn tribal ways, including traditional dress and spiritual practices. The activism led to decades of changes among American Indian communities, and increasing self-government at the tribal level.
The 1960s also marked the beginning of an "Indian Renaissance" in literature. New books such as Vine Deloria, Jr.'s Custer Died for Your Sins (1969) and the classic Black Elk Speaks
Black Elk Speaks
Black Elk Speaks is a 1932 book by John G. Neihardt, an American poet and writer, who relates the story and spirituality of Black Elk, an Oglala Sioux medicine man or shaman. It was based on conversations by Black Elk with the author and translated from Lakota into English by Black Elk's son, Ben...
(1961), reprinted from the 1930s, reached millions of readers inside and outside Indian communities. A wide variety of Indian writers, historians, and essayists gained publication following these successes and new authors were widely read. N. Scott Momaday
N. Scott Momaday
Navarre Scott Momaday is a Kiowa-Cherokee Pulitzer Prize-winning writer from Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arizona.-Background:...
won the Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
for one of his novels and Leslie Silko received acclaim. Fiction and nonfiction works about Indian life and lore have continued to attract a large audience. Authors such as Louise Erdrich
Louise Erdrich
Karen Louise Erdrich, known as Louise Erdrich, is an author of novels, poetry, and children's books featuring Native American heritage. She is widely acclaimed as one of the most significant writers of the second wave of what critic Kenneth Lincoln has called the Native American Renaissance...
and Michael Dorris
Michael Dorris
Michael Anthony Dorris was a prominent American novelist and scholar. During his career he presented himself as Native American and this identity was a key part of his professional activities and his public reputation; but its factuality is in doubt...
have earned continued recognition. Since the late twentieth century, novels by Sherman Alexie
Sherman Alexie
Sherman Joseph Alexie, Jr. is a writer, poet, filmmaker, and occasional comedian. Much of his writing draws on his experiences as a Native American. Two of Alexie's best known works are The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven , a book of short stories and Smoke Signals, a film...
have been adapted for film as well.
From 1969 to the Longest Walk of 1978, the Red Power Movement highlighted issues through social protest. Its goals were for the federal government to honor treaty obligations and provide financial "resources, education, housing and healthcare to alleviate poverty." The ARPM wanted to gain Indian participation in social institutions; it was instrumental in supporting the founding of Indian colleges, as well as the creation of Indian studies programs at existing institutions, and the establishment of museums and cultural centers to celebrate Indian contributions.
The Red Power movement had accomplished many of its goals by the time direct social activism declined in the late 1970s. "By the early 1980s, over 100 Indian studies programs had been created in the United States. Tribal museums opened." Among the most prominent of the cultural centers is the National Museum of the American Indian
National Museum of the American Indian
The National Museum of the American Indian is a museum operated under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution that is dedicated to the life, languages, literature, history, and arts of the native Americans of the Western Hemisphere...
(NMAI), which was authorized by the US Congress in 1989 and opened on the Mall
National Mall
The National Mall is an open-area national park in downtown Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. The National Mall is a unit of the National Park Service , and is administered by the National Mall and Memorial Parks unit...
in Washington, DC in 2004. It also has a branch at the former US Customs House, on the Bowling Green in Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan is the southernmost part of the island of Manhattan, the main island and center of business and government of the City of New York...
.
Indigenous rights has become an international issue, as activist groups have arisen in many nations. The United Nations has officially recognized an international indigenous rights movement.
Further reading
- Paul Chaat Smith and Robert Allen Warrior. (1996) Like a Hurricane: The Indian Movement from Alcatraz to Wounded Knee. New York: The New Press.