NOVEMBER 20, 1969

FULL-SCALE ALCATRAZ OCCUPATION BEGINS

On November 9, 1969, about fifty Native Americans, calling themselves the “United Indians of All Tribes, Inc.,” chartered a boat and circled the Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, symbolically claiming it. Five, including Mohawk Richard Oakes, dove off and swam ashore to physically claim it, but left when they met with the island caretaker. On November 20, approximately 100 Native Americans, 80 of whom were students at UCLA, returned. Oakes was seen as the de facto leader. By January 1970, many of the original student occupiers returned to college, replaced by non-Indians. Oakes himself left after the death of his stepdaughter on January 5, 1970. However, during the occupation, some 20 other occupations occurred: 50 more afterwards. The Alcatraz occupation served to unify Native Americans. The occupation lasted 19 months, ending on June 11, 1971.

Source:  Evan Andrews, “Native American Activists Occupy Alcatraz Island, 45 Years Ago,” History, 11/20/2014.  Retrieved 7/3/2019, https://www.history.com/news/native-american-activists-occupy-alcatraz-island-45-years-ago
Photo:  National Park Service.  “Alcatraz Occupation,” NPS, https://www.nps.gov/goga/learn/historyculture/alcatraz-occupation.htm. Public Domain.