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<div class="header reader-header reader-show-element"> <font
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href="https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/alcatraz-occupation/">https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/alcatraz-occupation/</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">Nov. 20, 1969: Alcatraz Occupation</h1>
This Day in History- November 20, 1969<br>
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<p><img
src="https://www.zinnedproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/tdih_alcatraz_occupiers-335x293.jpg"
alt="Alcatraz Occupation" height="293"
width="335"></p>
<p class="wp-caption-text"><font size="-2">Indian
occupiers moments after their removal
from Alcatraz Island on June 11, 1971.
Left: Oohosis, Cree from Canada. Right:
Peggy Lee Ellenwood, Sioux from Wolf
Point, Montana. Source: © Ilka Hartmann</font></p>
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<p>On Nov. 20, 1969, a dramatic and
unprecedented event took place in California
that focused attention on American Indian
grievances as nothing else had. It burst
through the invisibility of previous local
indigenous protests and declared to the
entire world that the Indians still lived
and would fight for their rights.</p>
<p>On that day, before dawn, 78 Indians landed
on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay and
occupied the island. They called themselves
“Indians of All Tribes” and issued a
proclamation, “We Hold the Rock.”</p>
<p>In it they offered to buy Alcatraz in glass
beads and red cloth, the price paid Indians
for Manhattan Island over three hundred
years earlier.</p>
<p>The occupiers organized themselves
immediately, electing a council and giving
everyone a job. Everyone on the island voted
on all major decisions. Within three weeks
of the occupation, a school was set up.
Older adults taught traditional native arts
and crafts such as bead and leather work,
woodcarving, costume decoration, sculpture,
dance and music.</p>
<p>Although federal marshals eventually
removed the protesters, and their
demands—including title to the island and
the construction of a Native American
university—were never granted, scholars view
the two-year protest as a springboard for
modern-day Indian activism. [Description by
Bernice Yeung from Alcatraz Is Not an Island
website (defunct).]</p>
<h3>Proclamation</h3>
<div id="attachment_14100" class="wp-caption">
<p><a
href="http://ilkahartmann.squarespace.com/indian-america/the-occupation-of-alcatraz-19691971/"
data-wpel-link="external"><img
src="https://www.zinnedproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/The_complete_Alcatraz_proclamation.jpg"
alt="" height="640" width="546"></a></p>
<p class="wp-caption-text"><font size="-2">Photo
by Ilka Hartmann. Click for more photos
of Alcatraz occupation by Hartmann.</font></p>
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<p>We feel that this so-called Alcatraz Island
is more than suitable for an Indian
reservation, as determined by the white
man’s own standards. By this, we mean that
this place resembles most Indian
reservations in that:</p>
<ol>
<li>It is isolated from modern facilities,
and without adequate means of
transportation.</li>
<li>It has no fresh running water.</li>
<li>It has inadequate sanitation facilities.</li>
<li>There are no oil or mineral rights.</li>
<li>There is no industry and so unemployment
is very great.</li>
<li>There are no health-care facilities.</li>
<li>The soil is rocky and non-productive,
and the land does not support game.</li>
<li>There are no educational facilities.</li>
<li>The population has always exceeded the
land base.</li>
<li>The population has always been held as
prisoners and kept dependent upon others.</li>
</ol>
<p>Further, it would be fitting and symbolic
that ships from all over the world, entering
the Golden Gate, would first see Indian
land, and thus be reminded of the true
history of this nation. This tiny island
would be a symbol of the great lands once
ruled by free and noble Indians.—<em>Indians
of All Nations, The Alcatraz Proclamation
to the Great White Father and His People</em></p>
<h3>Related Resources</h3>
<ul>
<li><a
href="http://www.lillimar.com/Contrary-Warrior.html"
target="_blank" rel="noopener"
data-wpel-link="external">Contrary
Warrior: The Life and Times Of Adam
Fortunate Eagle</a></li>
<li><a title="NPS"
href="http://www.nps.gov/alca/index.htm"
target="_blank" rel="noopener"
data-wpel-link="external">National Park
Service: Alcatraz Island</a></li>
<li><a
href="http://www.ilkahartmann.com/jbrave/phototext.nsf/images/7CF697C44CA3E2AC88256C6D00019953"
target="_blank" rel="noopener"
data-wpel-link="external">Photos by Ilka
Hartmman</a></li>
<li>“<a
href="https://soundcloud.com/user660132316/we-hold-the-rock"
target="_blank" rel="noopener"
data-wpel-link="external">We Hold the
Rock</a>” by Joe DeFilippo, a Baltimore
songwriter and retired social studies
teacher. Performed by the R. J. Phillips
Band.</li>
</ul>
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<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
Freedom Archives
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San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863.9977
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