LANDMARK EVENTS IN NATIVE AMERICAN HISTORY Red Power THE NATIVE AMERICAN CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT LANDMARK EVENTS IN NATIVE AMERICAN HISTORY THE APACHE WARS Th e Final Resistance BLACK HAWK AND THE WAR OF 1832 Removal in the North CODE TALKERS AND WARRIORS Native Americans and World War II KING PHILIP’S WAR Th e Confl ict Over New England LITTLE BIGHORN Winning the Battle, Losing the War THE LONG WALK Th e Forced Navajo Exile RED POWER Th e Native American Civil Rights Movement THE TRAIL OF TEARS Removal in the South LANDMARK EVENTS IN NATIVE AMERICAN HISTORY Red Power THE NATIVE AMERICAN CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT TROY R. JOHNSON Department Chair American Indian Studies California State University, Long Beach SERIES EDITOR: PAUL C. ROSIER Assistant Professor of History Villanova University Cover: AIM leader Russell Means (left) shakes hands with Assistant Attorney General Kent Frizzell at the end of the 71-day standoff at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, in May 1973. RED POWER: Th e Native American Civil Rights Movement Copyright © 2007 by Infobase Publishing All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information contact: Chelsea House An imprint of Infobase Publishing 132 West 31st Street New York NY 10001 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Johnson, Troy R. Red power : the Native American civil rights movement / Troy R. Johnson. p. cm. — (Landmark events in Native American history) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-7910-9341-2 (hardcover) ISBN-10: 0-7910-9341-7 (hardcover) 1. Indians of North America—Politics and government. 2. Indians of North America—Civil rights. 3. Indians of North America—Government relations. 4. American Indian Movement—History. 5. Wounded Knee Massacre, S.D., 1890. 6. Wounded Knee (S.D.) —History—Indian occupation, 1973. 7. Civil rights movements—United States. 8. United States—Race relations. 9. United States—Politics and government. I. Title. E98.T77J65 2007 323.1197'073—dc22 2006102264 Chelsea House books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk quantities for businesses, associations, institutions, or sales promotions. Please call our Special Sales Department in New York at (212) 967-8800 or (800) 322-8755. You can fi nd Chelsea House on the World Wide Web at http://www.chelseahouse.com Series design by Erika K. Arroyo Cover design by Ben Peterson Printed in the United States of America Bang NMSG 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Th is book is printed on acid-free paper. All links and Web addresses were checked and verifi ed to be correct at the time of publication. Because of the dynamic nature of the Web, some addresses and links may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. CCoonntteennttss 1 Introduction to the Red Power Movement 7 2 Wounded Knee Creek: 1890 17 3 Failed Indian Policy and the Birth of Red Power 28 4 Murder on the “Res” 45 5 Th e Occupation of “Th e Knee” 60 6 Indian Women at Wounded Knee 69 7 Trials, Prison, and the End of Red Power 76 8 Th e Legacy of Red Power and Wounded Knee 82 Chronology and Timeline 96 Notes 100 Bibliography 102 Further Reading 104 Index 107 1 IInnttrroodduuccttiioonn ttoo tthhee RReedd PPoowweerr MMoovveemmeenntt The  occupation of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, took place in the midst of a national backlash against the war in Vietnam, the rise of the Black Power and La Raza movements in the United States, and followed on the heels of the 19-month American Indian occupation of Alcatraz Island, from December 1969 to July 1971. Whereas the occupation of Alcatraz Island had been carried out by a nonconfrontational group of San Francisco Bay Area Indian college students— Indians of All Tribes—the occupation of Wounded Knee would be carried out by a new, more militant group on the national activist scene: the American Indian Movement, bet- ter known as AIM. Th e American Indian Movement was founded in 1968 by Clyde Bellecourt, Eddie Benton Banai, Dennis Banks, and Mary Jane Wilson, all four Chippewa Indians from Min- nesota. AIM arose out of concerns of Native Americans in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and focused on changing the lives of Indians in urban centers. hhhhhhhhhhhhhhh 7 dd 8 RED POWER The American Indian Movement (AIM) was founded in 1968 by Clyde Bellecourt, Eddie Benton Banai, Dennis Banks, and Mary Jane Wilson. Bellecourt (left) is pictured here with fellow AIM leader Russell Means in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1973. dd Introduction to the Red Power Movement 9 AIM members coordinated a neighborhood patrol to monitor police activities in Indian neighborhoods and to pre- vent unjust arrests and police mistreatment of American In- dian residents. Th e Minneapolis police often waited outside of bars frequented by Indian people, and at closing time they would confront them. Indian people claimed that they were beaten, the women sexually assaulted, and then thrown into jail without cause. AIM ultimately extended its area of con- cern to include the reform of Indian and federal government relations. AIM attracted a whole new generation of Indian youth and carried out the 1970 occupation of South Dakota’s Mount Rushmore, and the following year a symbolic Th anks- giving Day occupation of a replica of the Mayfl ower sailing ship at Plymouth Rock, in Massachusetts. Th eir “Trail of Broken Treaties” caravan to Washington, D.C., in 1972 con- cluded with the seven-day occupation of the federal Bureau THE FOUNDING OF AIM In 1966, Dennis Banks, an Anishinabe (Chippewa) Indian, was con- victed of burglary and sentenced to prison in Stillwater State Peni- tentiary in Minnesota. While in prison, Banks met fellow convict and Anishinabe Clyde Bellecourt, who was also serving time at Stillwater for burglary. It was while in prison that they began to formulate the beginning of an organization that would address the problems that beset Indian people and fi nd solutions to basic needs such as hous- ing and employment. To help Native Americans live successfully be- yond the boundaries of reservations, they would establish a series of survival schools in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota. Th eir primary focus was to restore pride to Native Americans and to pre- serve Indian culture. Along with Eddie Benton Banai and Mary Jane Wilson, they founded the American Indian Movement (AIM).