Chronology of American Indian History

The exhibition catalog singles out these painters’
works as exemplifying “the new spirit of experimen-
tation and invention which has resulted in a wide
latitude of styles and media now at the command of
Native American artists.”

Cree singer Buffy Sainte-Marie releases her
first album.
Already well known on the folk circuit, Cree Indian
Buffy Sainte-Marie reaches a mass audience with her
first album It’s My Way. Named the “Best New Art-
ist of the Year” by Billboard magazine, Sainte-Marie
uses many of her songs—including “Native Ameri-
can Child,” “Now That the Buffalo’s Gone,” and
“My Country ’Tis of Thy People You’re Dying”—to
protest the United States’s mistreatment of Native
Americans. As an activist, she also uses her notori-
ety to bring attention to a variety of Indian causes
and to speak out against the Vietnam War. Her
song “Universal Soldier” will become the unofficial
anthem of the Vietnam War protest movement.
(See also entry for 1996.)

Lakota Sioux protesters occupy
Alcatraz Island.
Six Lakota Sioux men take over the closed federal
prison on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay to
protest the seizure of Indian lands. The protesters
claim the area, citing the Treaty of Fort Laramie
(see entry for NOVEMBER 7, 1868) between the
Lakota and the United States. The treaty included
a provision stating that ownership of federal lands
abandoned by the government is to revert back
to the Indians. Although treated as a joke by the
media, the protest sets the stage for the later occu-
pation of Alcatraz by the Indians of All Tribes (see
entry for NOVEMBER 20, 1969).

March

The National Indian Youth Council organizes
the first “fish-in.”
To protest illegal fishing restrictions placed on
many small tribes in western Washington State, the
National Indian Youth Council (see entry for AU-

GUST 1961) recruits volunteers for a “fish-in.” In

violation of state regulation, the participants fish in

the waters of Quillayute River. As the state police

arrives to arrest the protesters, local Indians step in

to take their place. When hundreds of Indian join

in the protest, the police are forced to stop making

arrests. The success of this new type of protest will

spark a rash of “fish-ins” held by Indians whose fish-

ing rights are being violated.

March 27

Aleut villages are destroyed by an

earthquake.

A massive earthquake in Alaska levels several Aleut

villages, including Old Harbor and Kaguyak on

Kodiak Island and Afognak on Afognak Island.

The disaster also kills 23 people at the village of

Chenega in Prince William Sound. It will take the

survivors 20 years to rebuild their settlement (now

called Chenega Bay).

August

The California Supreme Court protects the

ceremonial use of peyote.

In 1962, three Navajo (Dineh) men were arrested

in California for distributing peyote, a halluci-

nogen used in the rituals of the Native American

Church (see entry for OCTOBER 10, 1918). Two

years later, the California Supreme Court finds that

preventing the men from using peyote is a viola-

tion of their First Amendment rights to freedom of

religion. The ruling will discourage federal officials

from prosecuting Indians for using peyote in reli-

gious rituals.

October

The United States starts construction of

the Kinzua Dam over Seneca objections.

For several years, the Seneca have staged a cam-

paign in the media and the courts to stop

the construction of the Kinzua Dam on the

Allegheny River (see entry for 1958). Over their