American Indian Culture and Research Journal

In the early morning hours of 20 November 1969, eighty-nine American Indians landed on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay. Identifying themselves as “Indians of All Tribes,” the group claimed the island by “right of discovery” and by the terms of the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie which gave Indians the right to unused federal property that had been Indian land previously. Except for a small caretaking staff, Alcatraz Island had been abandoned by the federal government since the early 1960s, when the federal penitentiary was closed. In a press statement, Indians of All Tribes set the tone of the occupation and the agenda for negotiations during the nineteen-month occupation: We, the native Americans, re-claim the land known as Alcatraz Island in the name of all American Indians . . . . [W]e plan to develop on this island several Indian institutions: 1. A CENTER FOR NATIVE AMERICAN STUDIES . . . 2. AN AMERICAN INDIAN SPIRITUAL CENTER . . . 3. AN INDIAN CENTER OF ECOLOGY . . . 4. A GREAT INDIAN TRAINING SCHOOL . . . [and] an AMERICAN INDIAN MUSEUM . . . . In the name of all Indians, therefore, we reclaim this island for our Indian nations . . . . We feel this claim is just and proper, and that this land should rightfully be granted to us for as long as the rivers shall run and the sun shall shine. Signed, INDIANS OF ALL TRIBES.