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5 Info About Native American Activist Richard Oakes

Raised on the Mohawk reservation in Akwesasne on the border between New York and Canada, Richard Oakes learned at a young age the respect that his Native Americans had. When he was old enough to do something about it, he became a key figure in the American Indian rights movement – largely through the occupation of the dormant Alcatraz prison. Take a look at five things you might not know about Oakes and his tragically brief struggle to recapture his culture.

1. HE WAS A KEY FIGURE IN CREATING NATIVE AMERICAN STUDIES IN COLLEGES.

Born in 1942, Oakes moved to San Francisco in his late twenties to study at San Francisco State University. As a student, he found that the lethargic curriculum neglected the Native American contribution. Working with the faculty, he helped develop and launch one of the first Native American Studies departments in the country. Oakes and fellow students also encouraged Native American elders in the ward to take classes.

2. ASSISTANCE IN OUR OCCUPATION OF ALCATRAZ ISLAND.

At SFSU, Oakes appeared to have found his calling in gathering both students and members of the Native American community. To draw attention to the need for further education and awareness of their forgotten history, Oakes and several others traveled to Alcatraz Island in November 1969 to symbolically claim it as Indian land.

3. HE BECAME “MAYOR OF ALCATRAZ”.

Though originally intended as a brief statement, Oakes realized that the dormant federal prison location might actually support long-term occupation. UCLA students helped educate the 100 or so Indians who settled on the island. After people settled in, an elected council was set up and inmates took on a variety of jobs in the abandoned prison facility: cooking, hygiene, teaching, housing, and childcare. Oakes, a charismatic leader, was appointed chief or mayor of the occupation and demanded the charter for the island. Federal agencies didn’t give in: the occupation ended in 1971 after police evicted the country’s remaining residents. (Oakes, whose 13 year old step daughter died there after falling)he stairs 1970, was already gone.)

4. HE Suffered VIOLENCE AS A RESULT OF HIS FAITH.

After leaving Alcatraz, Oakes joined other American Indians in their struggle for equality. He allied with the Pit River Tribe in California and turned against utility companies who claimed their land for their own purposes. Oakes fell victim to tear gas and truncheons. When he returned to San Francisco, he was involved in a bar fight that had rushed him to the hospital.

5. HE WAS GOT SHOT AND KILLED AT THE AGE OF 30.

Oakes undoubtedly had decades of activism and education ahead of him, but he never had the opportunity to experience them. On September 20, 1972, Oakes got into a confrontation with Michael Morgan, a YMCA official whom Oakes alleged abused the young Native American contestants for whom Morgan was responsible. During the argument, Morgan drew a gun and shot Oakes, killing him. A jury later ruled that Morgan had acted in self-defense. He was acquitted.

Despite the tragic end of his life, Richard Oakes achieved a great deal for the Native American people. While he failed to take Alcatraz, the occupation brought new attention to the matter: hundreds more protests were staged, and then President Richard Nixon returned 48,000 acres of land to the Taos Indians. Today, the Richard Oakes Multicultural Center at San Francisco State University is dedicated to Oakes, who dedicated his life to spreading the idea that Native American people determine their own destiny.

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