Chronology of American Indian History

November 20

The Indians of All Tribes takes over

Alcatraz Island.

Led by Adam Fortunate Eagle and Richard Oakes,

78 Native American activists arrive on the island of

Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay to draw attention to a

variety of Indian issues, including the relocation of

Indians to urban areas and the substandard living

conditions on reservations. Their demands are out-

lined in the “Proclamation of Indians of All Tribes,”

in which, in an allusion to the supposed purchase

price paid to Indians for Manhattan (see entry for

MAY 6, 1626), they offer the government $24 worth

of glass beads and red cloth for the island. The

document also calls for converting the abandoned

Alcatraz prison into an Indian educational and cul-

tural center. The Alcatraz occupation, which will

last for 19 months, will attract worldwide media

attention and public sympathy for the plight of

urban and reservation Indians. (See also entry for

JUNE 11, 1971.)

1970

The University of Oklahoma abandons the

Little Red mascot.

Led by the Norman, Oklahoma, chapter of the Na-

tional Indian Youth Council (see entry for AUGUST

1961), Indian students speak out against the Univer-

sity of Oklahoma’s mascot, Little Red. During sports

games, the student portraying Little Red dances and

whoops wearing a breechcloth bearing the school’s

name. Although Little Red was traditionally depicted

by a young white man, the university begins choosing

Indian students to play the mascot, as a misguided

attempt to address the protesters’ concerns. The plan

backfires when Navajo Ron Benally refuses to per-

form as Little Red at the school’s Thanksgiving Day

football game, in consideration of the concerns of his

fellow Indian students. After protesters stage a sit-in

at the university president’s office, the school finally

agrees to abolish the Little Red tradition.

Harvard’s school of education recruits

Indian students.

With funds provided in part by a grant from the

federal government, Harvard University establishes

the American Indian Program (later renamed the

Harvard Native American Program) in its Graduate

School of Education. The program is intended to

recruit Indian and Inuit students to the school and

train them to be leaders in the field of education.

Since the program’s inception, Harvard has con-

ferred on Indians more than 180 advanced degrees

in education.

LaDonna Harris founds Americans for

Indian Opportunity.

Americans for Indian Opportunity is formed

by LaDonna Harris, a Comanche public ser-

vant and activist. An outgrowth of her previous

Members of Indians of All Tribes welcome other
Indian activists to join in their occupation of Alcatraz
Island in San Francisco Bay. (AP/Wide World Photos)