Disclaimer: The following blog post is not a reflection of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s opinion on the below topics.
Prior to European colonization, over 10,000 indigenous people called the coastal area between Point Sur and the San Francisco Bay home.[2] Alcatraz Island was part of this land, known primarily for its infamous prison and notorious criminals. However, the history of Native Americans in connection to this penitentiary is less known. Starting with the first prisoners of Alcatraz, many of whom were Indigenous Californians imprisoned for resisting the invasion of settlers and miners during the Gold Rush.[3] Additionally, another group of nineteen Native Americans from the Hopi Tribe were imprisoned here because they resisted the removal of their children to American Indian Boarding Schools.[4] Alcatraz prison eventually closed in 1963, leaving the island abandoned as unused federal property, prompting the site to become inspiration for potential activism. The first attempted occupation of Alcatraz Island in a demonstration of Native American human rights occurred in 1964 lasting for four hours. However, its successor, the Alcatraz Occupation of 1969, would become recognized as one of the most important acts of political resistance within the American Indian Movement and contemporary Native American History.
In the fall of 1969, a fire devastated the American Indian Center in San Francisco, resulting in Native American activists seeking a new space for the community. The center had served as a significant meeting place for urban Natives offering assistance in employment, health care, and legal services.[5] As a result, a symbolic one-day occupation of Alcatraz occurred on November 9. This group was led by Richard Oakes, a Mohawk activist and student at San Francisco State University, who delivered a speech to press and government officials, now known as the Alcatraz Proclamation. The Proclamation declared Alcatraz Island as Indian Land under the Treaty of Fort Laramie and listed injustices faced by Native Americans at the hands of the U.S. government.[6] The 1868 Treaty between the U.S. and the Sioux stated that deserted federal land could be returned to Native People.[7] When Alcatraz closed, the U.S. declared the island as surplus federal property, which prompted Native activists to reclaim the land.
Excerpts from the proclamation:
“In the name of all Indians … we reclaim this island for our Indian nations…We feel this claim is just and proper, and that the land should rightfully be granted to us for as long as the rivers run and the sun shall shine.”
“We will purchase said Alcatraz Island for twenty-four dollars in glass beads and red cloth, a precedent set by the white man’s purchase of a similar island about 300 years ago. We know that $24 in trade goods for these 16 acres is more than was paid when Manhattan Island was sold, but we know that land values have risen over the years…”[8]
Read the full Proclamation and Letter
Oakes also announced the group’s intent to turn the Island into a refuge for Native Americans by establishing a new center for Native American studies in history and ecology, a spiritual center, and other beneficial facilities dedicated to Native well-being and security.[9]
“We’ve proven our point. Beyond that, the next time we come, we’re going to come to build…If a one-day occupation by white men on our land years ago established squatter’s rights, this should establish our rights here.”
-Richard Oakes’s last word to reporters before the group was removed by the Coast Guard[10]
At 2 a.m. on November 20th, 1969, Oakes returned to Alcatraz joined by over 80 Native Americans comprised of college students and other California civilians including families with children, all represented under the name, Indians of All Tribes (IAT). This marked the beginning of the Alcatraz Occupation which would last 19 months and, at its peak, would include 400 Native Americans and allies.[11]
Left photo shows activists with a sign that says, “This Land is My Land”, right photo shows activists surrounding Richard Oakes in the middle [12]
“To the Government of the United States from Alcatraz Island, Indian Territory…The choice now lies with the leaders of the American Government–to use violence upon us as before to remove us from our Great Spirit’s land, or institute a real change in its dealing with the American Indian…Nevertheless, we seek peace”
– Message phoned to William Devoranon, a coordinator of the Office of the Secretary of the Interior in San Francisco by Richard Oakes and R. Houchins, a lawyer, on November 21, 1969[13]
Left photo shows shows one of the many graffiti art that covered Alcatraz during the Occupation, Right photo IAT’s Declaration of the Return of Indian Land[14]
Organization began right away with IAT opening a mainland office for finances and electing a seven-member council for leadership while also enforcing a law that decisions be made through unanimous consent.[15] Everyone had jobs within the community committees that were established, including security, sanitation, daycare, school, cooking, outreach, etc. Although coordinated, getting supplies to the Island remained a top priority for IAT. The prison only had three functioning toilets, and clean water and food were scarce and rationed.[16] As news of the occupation and its need for supplies spread, so did support. When Thanksgiving approached, restaurants around San Francisco donated turkeys and other food for an “Un-Thanksgiving” dinner.[17] Thanksgiving Day brought over 300 Native Americans to Alcatraz, many from as far as Washington and Oklahoma. A fest was hosted, and afterward, a powwow that included songs, prayers, and dances brought together people of all ages from tribes all over the country.[18]
“We moved onto Alcatraz Island because we feel that Indian people need a cultural center of their own. For several decades, Indian people have not had enough control of training their young people. And without a cultural center of their own, we are afraid that the old Indian ways may be lost. We believe that the only way to keep them alive is for Indian people to do it themselves.”
— Letter from Indians of All Tribes, December 16, 1969[20]
Activists had been reaching out and connecting with other Indigenous communities through interviews with local and national media, but wanted to create their own media program as well. So, with a grant sponsorship and installation of radio equipment, IAT was able to create their very own media center on Alcatraz. The radio program was called “Radio Free Alcatraz,” which first aired on December 22, 1969, hosted by John Trudell. These daily broadcasts contained educational discussions on Native culture, along with featured interviews with many of the original occupiers and other participating individuals. It allowed the general public to become aware of the current status of the occupation and provided Natives the opportunity to control their own narrative, countering false information from the U.S. government.[22]
An episode of Radio Free Alcatraz hosted by John Trudell
Initially, the federal government demanded that the island be vacated but eventually agreed to demands by the Native council that formal negotiations would be held.[24] However, disarray began to arise in early 1970 when one of the core leadership groups, college students, began returning to school in January. Additionally, non-natives started to take up residency on the island, many taking part in the San Francisco hippie and drug culture. On January 5, 1970, Oakes’ thirteen-year-old stepdaughter Yvonne fell three flights down a stairwell to her ultimate death and, as a result, Oakes left the island, leaving behind two competing groups fighting for leadership.[25]
At this point, the government adopted a position of non-interference, intending to play a waiting game in hopes that the IAT would elect to end the occupation. However, although they weren’t using force on individuals, this was not a passive position at all, intentionally attempting to remove the occupiers from the island through disrupting their flow of resources and access to the mainland. By the mid-1970s, the government shut off all electrical power that had been rewired on the island and removed the water barge which had provided fresh water to the occupiers.[26] Three days later, a fire broke out on the island destroying several historic buildings, fueling the mistrust between the Natives and the government. During the last months of the occupations, testimonies of the remaining original occupiers complain of open drug use, conflicts over authority, and general chaos of leadership. The occupation eventually ended on June 10, 1971.
While the physical occupation ended and ownership of Alcatraz was not retained, the campaign found success in its larger purpose, as the Proclamation stated, “to better the lives of all Indian people.” The significant global attention garnered by the Alcatraz Occupation led to the eradication of Termination and Relocation policies, marking the end of the two-decade period where the U.S. government eliminated federal recognition of many Native tribes. This new focus in federal policies shifted the aim to recognizing tribal sovereignty and Native self-determination, resulting in the return of large areas of Tribal land along with multiple federal laws that were unlikely to have ever passed at the time had it not been for the occupation. Now, over fifty years later, the Alcatraz Occupation is a symbol for Native American unity and the beginning of a new wave of Indigenous activism in a movement that is still growing today.
[1]Kent Blansett, “I’m Not Your Indian Anymore,” in Journey to Freedom: Richard Oakes, Alcatraz, and the Red Power Movement. (Yale University Press, 2018), 117–165. https://www-jstor-org.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/stable/j.ctv5cgbqj.8?seq=20
[2]Troy Johnson, “We Hold the Rock – Alcatraz Island,” National Park Service, 2024, https://www.nps.gov/alca/learn/historyculture/we-hold-the-rock.htm.
[3]Miriam Anne Frank and Alexandra Carraher-King, “Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Occupation of Alcatraz,” Cultural Survival, 2019, https://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/commemorating-50th-anniversary-occupation-alcatrazgad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAgJa6BhCOARIsAMiL7V9_Y_huETVRgEbAL9F_YzV7kW-vi0POndCnyqn1qIu8Nne-t4ynOVkaAtJeEALw_wcB.
[4]Ibid
[5]Danielle Moretti-Langholtz, et al., “Rising: The American Indian Movement and the Third Space of Sovereignty | Occupation of Alcatraz (November 1969 – June 1971),” Muscarelle Museum of Art, 2020, https://muscarelle.wm.edu/rising/alcatraz/.
[6]University of Massachussets Lowell Library, “The Occupation of Alcatraz, 1969” Libguides, 2022, https://libguides.uml.edu/c.php?g=945022&p=6978650.
[7]Troy Johnson, “We Hold the Rock.”
[8]Moretti-Langholtz, et al., “Rising.”
[9]University of Massachussets Lowell Library, “The Occupation of Alcatraz.”
[10]Blansett, “I’m Not Your Indian,” 133.
[11]Anne Frank and Carraher-King, “Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Occupation of Alcatraz.”
[12]Photos by Robert Klein
[13]Blansett, “I’m Not Your Indian.”
[14]Moretti-Langholtz, et al., “Rising.”
[15]Blansett, “I’m Not Your Indian.”
[16]Ibid
[17]Ibid
[18]Ibid
[19]Moretti-Langholtz, et al., “Rising.”
[20]Ibid
[21]Photo from: David Treuer, “How a Native American Resistance Held Alcatraz for 18 Months,” The New York Times, 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/20/us/native-american-occupation-alcatraz.html
[22]Anne Brice, “Exploring the sound of the American Indian occupation of Alcatraz,” UC Berkely News, 2022, https://news.berkeley.edu/2022/11/08/sound-and-music-of-alcatraz-occupation/.
[23]Moretti-Langholtz, et al., “Rising.”
[24]Troy Johnson, “We Hold the Rock.”
[25]Ibid
[26]Troy Johnson, “We Hold the Rock.”
[27]Photo by Ilka Hartmann