-
BEGINNING OF AIM
1968:
Establishment of the American Indian Movement:Founders - Dennis Banks, NeeGawNwayWeeDun, Clyde H. Bellecourt, George Mitchell
Indians of the Native American community were also a part of this.
When: 1968
Where: Minneapolis, Minnesota
What: A movement connecting the Indian people together. This movement also gave opportunity for people across the Americas and Canada and help improve their living conditions including poverty, housing, and police harassment. -
Indian Civil Rights Act 1968
Guaranteed civil rights to all American Indians.
-
"Indians of all Tribes" Occupation of Alcatraz:
On November 9, 1969, a assemblage of Native American followers, headed by Mohawk Richard Oakes, chartered a boat and set out to symbolically claim the island of Alcatraz for "Indians of all tribes." By November 20, the movement had evolved into a full-blown occupation that eventually developed into the lengthiest prolonged occupation by Native Americans of a federal facility or federal property.
-
TRAVEL OF BROKEN TRAILS
Trail of Broken Treaties:Cross-country protest organized by Native Americans in the October of 1972.
Indians started on the west coast and made it in Washington with a caravan in November of 1972.
Supposed to bring attention to Native American concerns such as treaty rights and living standards.
The American Indian Movement and other organizations designed the Twenty-Point Position paper.
The paper was written to reestablish the authority of the Indian Nations. -
PREAMBLE TO TRAIL OF BROKEN TREATIES 20-POINTS
In November, 1972 AIM brought a caravan of Native Nation representatives to Washington, DC, to the place where dealings with Indians have taken place since 1849: the US Department of Interior. AIM put the following claims directly before the President of the United States.
-
BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS BUILDING TAKEOVER
A march on Washington, D.C., involving approximately 1,000 angry Native Americans. It ended with the occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) headquarters.
After taking over the offices, AIM protesters seized large numbers of files from the BIA offices and caused over $2 million in damages to the trashed building.
They also presented President Nixon with 20 demands for immediate action.
The Nixon admin provided $66,000 in transportation monies in return for a peaceful end. -
WOUNDED KNEE
The tiny village of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, is the historic site of an infamous 1890 massacre of Native Americans (the last) by the U.S. Cavalry.
In 1973, about 200 members of the local Oglala Lakota Indians, led by AIM members, seized the village of Wounded Knee and declared it to be an independent nation. Their single demand was the return return of the Great Sioux Nation.
For 71 days, the town was controlled by AIM while they battled U.S. officials. Two AIM protestors were killed. -
PINERIDGE
In June 1975, two FBI agents in an unmarked car and dressed in civilian clothes chased a pickup truck into an remote area near an AIM encampment.
Throughout the ensuing shootout, the two FBI agents were shot and killed, along with one Indian activist. Over the next several days, over 300 FBI agents swarmed the reservation, trailed by officers making dozens of arrests and prosecutions. -
LEONARD PELTIER
a Native American activist and member of the American Indian Movement (AIM).
In 1977 he was convicted and sentenced to two consecutive terms of life imprisonment for first degree murder in the shooting of two Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents during a 1975 conflict on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
Mr. Peltier has served over 29 years in prison and is long overdue for parole. He has received several human rights awards for his good deeds from behind bars. -
THE LONGEST WALK
Planned and organized by the American Indian Movement
Roughly 2,000 supporters joined this event
The supporters concluded a 5-month march from San Francisco to the Washington Monument at Washington D.C
The objective of the march was to protest against 11 bills connected to the Native Americans
Only about 24 people were able to survive the entire walk -
American Indian Religious Freedom Act 1978
It was enacted to protect and preserve the traditional religious rights and cultural practices of American Indians.
These rights include, but are not limited to, access to sacred sites, freedom to worship through ceremonial and traditional rights, and use and possession of objects considered sacred. -
"Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples."
On September 13, 2007, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the "Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples."
-
FOUNDERS OF AIM
FOUNDERS OF AIM WERE:Dennis Banks
NeeGawNwayWeeDun,
Clyde H. Bellecourt,
George Mitchell
