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organization, Oklahomans for Indian Opportunity,
AIO is a non-profit group dedicated to improving
the economic, political, and cultural self-sufficiency
of Indian tribes throughout the United States.
Determination of the Rights and Unity for
Menominee Shareholders (DRUMS) is founded
to fight land sales.
To prevent Menominee leaders from selling land to
pay property taxes, a group of activists headed by Ada
Deer form Determination of the Rights and Unity
for Menominee Shareholders (DRUMS). DRUMS
will later take on the larger goal of fighting to restore
the Menominee’s tribal status, which was terminated
by the United States (see entry for MAY 1, 1961).
“The immediate effect of termi-
nation on our tribe was the loss
of most of our hundred-year-old
treaty rights, protections, and
services. No amount of expla-
nation or imagination prior to
termination could have prepared
us for the shock of what these
losses meant.... We hope you
can appreciate the magnitude of
these treaty losses to us. Visual-
ize a situation similar to ours
happening to one of your home
states. Imagine the outrage of
the people in one of your own
communities if Congress should
attempt to terminate their basic
property, inheritance, and civil
rights.”
—DRUMS representatives pro-
testing the Menominee’s
termination before the Senate
Committee on Interior and
Insular Affairs in 1971The Makah village of Ozette is uncovered.
A severe storm in northern Washington State uncov-
ers a portion of the ancient Makah Indian village of
Ozette, which had been destroyed in a mudslide be-
fore the Makah came into contact with whites. Well
preserved in the mud are thousands of artifacts. With
the help of Washington State University, the Makah
will eventually unearth more than 55,000 objects,
forming the largest collection of artifacts ever assem-
bled from a precontact site. (See also entry for 1979.)The Native American Rights Fund is
founded.
With a grant from the Ford Foundation, the Native
American Rights Fund is created to provide legal
aid to Indians and Indian groups that otherwise
could not afford representation. The organization
is an outgrowth of the California Indian Legal Ser-
vice, which was established in the 1960s as part of
the Johnson administration’s War on Poverty.Cree leader William I. C. Wuttunee defends
the White Paper.
Because of his support for the White Paper (see
entry for JUNE 25, 1969), the Canadian government
appoints Cree lawyer William I. C. Wuttunee as
the commissioner of Indian land claims. Wuttunee’s
encouragement of Native participation in white
society earns him the enmity of many Natives,
including those of his own band, who ban him from
their reserve. Wuttunee will soon resign his post and
write Ruffled Feathers, in which he tells Natives to
work to improve their own lives and stop “cry[ing]
about broken promises and broken treaties.”The “crying Indian” television spot is
first aired.
Keep America Beautiful sponsors a public-service
television announcement against littering, a spot that
features veteran western actor Iron Eyes Cody. Wear-
ing a feather in his hair and dressed in buckskin, Cody
stands by the side of a highway as trash tossed from a
passing car falls at the actor’s feet. In an extreme close-
up on his face, a single tear slowly drips down.
Produced by the Ad Council, the spot becomes
one of the most effective and famous public service