In a publication entitled Alcatraz Is Not An Island (1972), Native American anthropologist/historian Dr. Jack Forbes from UC Davis penned the following: "In the 1870's Natchez Winnemucca, respected chief of the Pyramid Lake Paiutes, was arrested and sent as a prisoner to Alcatraz. His crime: Attempting to resist and expose the corruption of the government's agents on his reservation. Natchez did not stay on "The Rock" very long, but other Indians, guilty of the "crime" of resisting white conquest, were frequent visitors to the prison. Now in 1969 modern-day Native Americans are attempting to claim Alcatraz Island in order to both obtain facilities for educational programs and to publicize the desperate circumstances under which Indian people live..... There is little question but that the Muwekma Indian people of San Francisco and the Hulueko [Coast Miwok people] of Marin County were, in the old days, frequent visitors to all of the islands in the San Francisco Bay. …"
It is said that the Native American oral history of Alcatraz Island has been largely lost because of colonization and deculturalization of the Native American populations of the area. However, from what I could gather the island was used for several purposes. Originally Indians believed the chunk of land in the middle of the San Francisco Bay fostered evil spirits. The over 10,000 indigenous people who, later to be called the Ohlone (a Miwok Indian word meaning "western people"), living in the coastal area between Point Sur and the San Francisco Bay, used the island as a place of isolation for tribal members who broke a tribal law, as a camping spot, an area for gathering foods, especially bird eggs and sea-life, and that Alcatraz was utilized also as a hiding place for many Indians attempting to escape from the California Mission system.
After colonization of the region, Alcatraz began a long history of imprisonment. Among the prisoners were many Native Americans, including the largest single group of Indian prisoners sentenced to confinement on Alcatraz, which occurred in January 1895 when the U.S. government arrested, tried and shipped nineteen Moqui Hopi to the island. Native Americans continued to be confined as prisoners in the barracks on the island through the 1800s and the early 1900s.
In 1964, a year after the penitentiary closed, and again in 1969, Alcatraz was occupied by Indians of All Tribes. The occupation of 1969, headed by Richard Oakes, lasted 19 months. The occupation of Alcatraz was one of the most successful American Indian protest actions of the 20th century. The occupation also brought Indian rights issues to the attention of the federal government.
The occupation succeeded in getting the federal government to adopt an official policy of Indian self-determination. From 1970 to 1971, Congress passed 52 legislative proposals on behalf of American Indians to support tribal self-rule. President Nixon increased the BIA budget by 225 percent, doubled funds for Indian health care and established the Office of Indian Water Rights. Also during Nixon's presidency, scholarship funds were increased by $848,000 for college students. The Office of Equal Opportunity provided more funds for economic development and drug and alcohol recovery programs and expanded housing, health care and other programs.
Every November since 1975, Native Americans have gathered on Alcatraz for what is called "Un-Thanksgiving Day" to honor the occupation and those who continue to fight for Native American rights today.
http://www.nps.gov/alca/historyculture/we-hold-the-rock.htm
No comments:
Post a Comment