AIM / American Indian Movement

  

The button was used at the American Indian Movement pow-wow at the Minneapolis American Indian Center on December 29, 1990.

Vernon Bellecourt (WaBun-Inini), a leader in the American Indian Movement, was part of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe. His name means "Man of Dawn.”

https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-american-indian-movement-1968-1978/sources/1330

In 1969, Activists Began a 19-month Occupation of Alcatraz Island

On Nov. 20, 1969, a fleet of wooden sailboats holding 90 Native Americans landed on Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay. For the next 19 months, the group occupied the island, hoping to reclaim the rock “in the name of all American Indians.” 

A photograph taken during the AIM takeover and ultimate surrender at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, 1973.

American Indian Movement: negotiating session at Wounded Knee, South Dakota

Founded in 1968, the American Indian Movement (AIM) is an organization dedicated to the Native American civil rights movement. Its main objectives are the sovereignty of Native American lands and peoples; preservation of their culture and traditions; and enforcement of all treaties with the United States.

A lingering sign of the 1969–71 Native American Alcatraz Occupation in 2006. The "AN" is what remains of an alteration made to the sign, to make it read "United Indian Property".

The Occupation of Alcatraz was an occupation of Alcatraz Island by 89 American Indians who called themselves Indians of All Tribes.The Alcatraz Occupation lasted for nineteen months, from November 20, 1969, to June 11, 1971, and was forcibly ended by the U.S. government.

In 1973, Activists Occupy Wounded Knee

Image: “We Shall Remain,” PBS

In 1970, Activists Occupy Mount Rushmore

Occupiers on top of Mt. Rushmore. Images: Reclaiming Our Sacred Sites Flickr page