As the United States of America navigated its way into the wealth of the 20th century, many groups were left oppressed, subjugated, or forsaken by the rising nation's government. The first victims of colonialism in the Americas, the Native Americans (or American Indians) continued to face troubles, from King Phillip's War in the 17th century to the Trail of Tears in the 1830's and 1840's, to the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890 and worsening social conditions in the 1970's. What initially started as an activist group dedicated to providing education to Native American children, the American Indian Movement took up arms in protest against the historical injustices inflicted on their people.
American Indian Movement Timeline
The following timeline provides a brief progression of events regarding the American Indian Movement in United States History:
1940's - 1960's: The US Government instituted Indian Termination Policies to assimilate Native Americans.
1968: The American Indian Movement was founded in Minnesota.
1969: Members of the American Indian Movement occupied Alcatraz in a united protest
1970: Members of the American Indian Movement occupy Mount Rushmore.
1972: The Trail of Broken Treaties took place across North America.
1973: Members of the American Indian Movement began occupying Wounded Knee in protest of the local Native American council.
1975: The Reign of Terror at Pine Ridge ensued.
1978: The American Indian Movement organized the Longest Walk of 1978, traveling the country in protest.
2008: The AIM organized the modern Longest Walk of 2008, thirty years after the first walk.
American Indian Movement Meaning
The American Indian Movement (AIM) was a Native American protest group founded in 1968 in Minnesota. Founded by Dennis Banks, George Mitchell, Eddie Benton Banai, and Clyde Bellecourt, the social activism group soon garnered hundreds of followers. It's mission ranged from small and humble prospects such as providing much needed funding to Native American education programs, to loftier ideals, including federal recognition of the sovereignty of Native lands.
Sovereignty:
The autonomous authority of a body or state.
American Indian Movement (AIM) flag. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
American Indian Movement Facts
Consider the following names: George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Thomas Jefferson. These names inspire national pride and a sense of American identity in millions of United States citizens to this day. Coincidentally, they're also the presidential faces carved into Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, in the Black Hills region of what was once the Great Sioux Reservation. After the discovery of gold, the United States Government defied their 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie, the treaty that ended Red Cloud's War, and stripped more land away from the Native Americans.
AIM Poster created during troubles on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
The First Steps of the American Indian Movement
As one of their first calls to action, the American Indian Movement organized a protest at Mount Rushmore. An estimated 40 Natives scaled the mountain as park rangers gathered around them. The plea of the American Indian Movement: to honor the Treaty of Fort Laramie and restore the former Sioux reserved land. The protest eventually dispersed, but before the AIM's statement was made clear to the public. They wanted change, and they wanted it soon.
The Great Sioux Reservation:
The Great Sioux Reservation was established by the US government in 1868 with the Treaty of Fort Laramie. The reservation primarily comprised the western half of South Dakota, bisected by the Missouri River. Only 8 years later, Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer (the one who fought and died in the Battle of Little Bighorn against Native Americans years later), led the Black Hills expedition into Sioux territory and discovered gold. Almost immediately, the US government began pushing into the area, passing bills that separated and divided more lands within the already restricted reservation, much to the dismay of the Native American population.
American Indian Movement Civil Rights
The occupation of Mount Rushmore was one of many peaceful protests orchestrated by the American Indian Movement. At its core, AIM's mission was the betterment of general Native American living conditions across the United States. This meant development in housing, education, political representation, banking relations, and communication. Eventually, this mission led the AIM into violence against the government.
American Indian Movement Leaders
As previously, the AIM was founded by Dennis Banks, George Mitchell, Eddie Benton Banai, and Clyde Bellecourt. All four share interesting commonalities: all four were born in the 1930's, and all died in the 2020's, living long lives of social activism. All four of them served prison time, sharing their sentence in the Stillwater Prison in Minnesota. The four founders continued to support AIM throughout their lives, involving themselves in the tumultuous protests of the 1970's and onward.
Modern photograph of Dennis Banks, co-founder of the American Indian Movement. Source: Neeta Lind, CC-BY-2.0.
Dennis Banks achieved particular fame among his co-founders. Banks attended a federal boarding school under the Bureau of Native Affairs, an extension of the government's Indian Termination Policy. The school sought to educate and assimilate American Indians into the greater American culture. Later, Banks served in the US Air Force in Japan. After his participation in many of AIM's protests in the 1970's, including the occupation of Wounded Knee, Banks became a popular actor, author, and teacher.
Indian Termination Policy:
The legislative belief that the assimilation of American Indians into greater American culture (and thus removing their traditional culture) would be beneficial to their livelihood.
American Indian Movement Protests
The American Indian Movement organized its protests as either occupations of important sites or as cross-country marches. Beyond Mount Rushmore, the AIM occupied the abandoned federal prison of Alcatraz off the coast of California and the town of Wounded Knee, which held particular significance to Native American history. All occupations were stunts meant to garner social attention, as activism through political discourse proved to be too slow.
Photograph of American Indian Movement protestors at the Washington Monument in Washington DC. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
The time has come…for a new era in which the Indian future is determined by Indian acts and Indian decisions.
-Richard Nixon (in 1970)
The AIM engaged in long marches across the continental United States. During the Trail of Broken Treaties in 1972, named after the Trail of Tears, AIM members occupied the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington DC. It was during this occupation that the AIM proposed its twenty point plan to the US government. Among their demands included:
Restore the process, commitments, and rights of treaties.
Creating new offices for Native American relations.
Protect Native freedom of religion.
Return over one hundred million acres to Native ownership.
The Longest Walk of 1978 gained international attention when a smoking pipe was carried over 3,000 miles from California to Washington DC. The pipe was smoked at the end of the trek, signifying the end of the long walk. President Carter did not address the AIM during this march. Another Longest March was organized in 2008, representing the longevity of AIM's continued fight for Native American representation in modern discourse.
American Indian Movement and the Pine Ridge Reservation
Beginning in February of 1973, AIM members under the leadership of activist Russell Means began occupying the town of Wounded Knee, located in the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Claiming corruption in the governing Native council of the area, the AIM took control of the town for 71 days. Armed with firearms and vehicles, the American Indian Movement fought against intrusion by the FBI and US marshals. By the end of the conflict, two Native Americans were dead, an FBI agent was paralyzed, and hundreds of AIM members were arrested. Tensions between the American Indian Movement and the government did not end here.
Modern photograph of an AIM member wearing an AIM jacket during a protest in Seattle. Source: Joe Mabel, CC-BY-SA-2.0, Wikimedia Commons.
Beginning in 1975, over sixty people died during armed conflicts wage on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Largely beginning with the execution of two FBI agents on Native property, the Pine Ridge Reign of Terror turned the American Indian Movement's peaceful calls for reform into a violent conflict with the federal government. Shootouts, murders, and espionage shook the AIM at its foundation. Hundreds of Native Americans were injured during the months of conflict.
American Indian Movement Today
The American Indian Movement still exists to this day. Many of its founders lived into the 2010's, and many of its 1970's members still participate in activism efforts. Modern AIM protests have returned to peaceful efforts calling the younger generations of Native Americans to remember and honor the history of Wounded Knee, the Pine Ridge Reservation, Alcatraz, the Longest Marches, and more. Throughout its history, the American Indian Movement achieved small victories in legislation and social reform, such as the legalization of peyote in worship and the passing of the Indian Child Welfare Act.
American Indian Movement - Key takeaways
- The American Indian Movement (AIM) was created as a peaceful protest group to bring attention and reform to the treatment of Native Americans in the 20th century United States.
- The American Indian Movement protested through occupations of important historical sights or by conducting marches across the United States.
- One of AIM's most prominent founders was Dennis Banks, a Native American Air Force Veteran, movie star, and social activist.
- Tensions on the Pine Ridge Reservation led to conflict between the American Indian Movement and US government in 1973 and 1975, leading to armed conflict, shootouts, and the death of dozens of people.
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