AnungIkwe ᐊᓈᓐg ᐃᑴRegina Brave (Grandma Regina) Lakota Warrior and survivor of Wounded Knee 1973 [arrested on February 23, 2017 for protecting the water, treaty and sovereignty at Standing Rock] sits with rifle at ready on the steps of a building in Wounded Knee. March 3, 1973.<br><br>~ AMERICAN INDIAN WOMEN’S ACTIVISM IN THE 1960s & 1970s ~ <br>by Donna Hightower Langston<br><a href="https://scholarworks.umb.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1085&context=ghc" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://scholarworks.umb.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1085&context=ghc</a><br><br>"Abstract: This article will focus on the role of women in three red power events: the occupation of Alcatraz Island, the Fish-in movement, and the occupation at Wounded Knee. Men held most public roles at Alcatraz and Wounded Knee, even though women were the numerical majority at Wounded Knee. Female elders played a significant role at Wounded Knee, where the occupation was originally their idea. In contrast to these two occupations, the public leaders of the Fish-in movement were women—not an untraditional role for women of Northwest Coastal tribes.<br><br>American Indian political activism in the 1960s took place during a time when many groups were actively organizing, groups with branches of their movement dedicated to civil rights pursuits and branches of more radical Power groups. Among civil rights groups of the time were African American organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Southern Christian Leadership conference (SCLC), led by Martin Luther King, and women's groups like the National Organization for Women (NOW). Civil rights groups most often focused on lobbying, education, and creating legal change. Power groups responded to the limits of civil rights groups with more radical rhetoric and actions. Numerous Power groups advocated Black Power, Brown Power, Red Power, and Radical Feminism—groups such as the Black Panthers, Brown Berets, American Indian Movement (AIM), and New York Radical Feminists. <br><br>Many groups borrowed strategies, tactics, theory, and vision from the African American movement. While similarities in goals and tactics can be found [End Page 114] among groups of this time period, American Indian groups differed from others in a number of key areas, and also drew on their own unique history of continued resistance and conflict over land and resources (Baylor 1994, 33). One major difference was that their focus was less on integration with dominant society, and more on maintaining cultural integrity. While African Americans had been denied integration, American Indians had faced a history of forced assimilation (Winfrey 1986, 145). American Indians also faced problems that differed from other groups, since they were owners of land and resources. A central focus of their activism was on gaining enforcement of treaty rights, not civil rights (Winfrey 1986, 146). The Indian movement focused more on empowering the tribe, not individuals, the more common reference point for civil rights groups. <br><br>At a time when white student groups advised against trusting anyone over 30, American Indian youth actively pursued bonds with their elders and looked to them for cultural knowledge and leadership (Ziegelman 1985, 4). While elders had a revered status, they did not necessarily hold positions of tribal authority. Many tribal councils were governed by members of a middle generation who had survived boarding school, but did not always understand the traditional values of elders or the interest among youth in reconnecting to their heritage (Ziegelman 1985,13). Divisions also existed among Indians based on geographical residence; reservation or urban. The status of Indians on reservations was sometimes compared to that of Southern Blacks, while members of urban diasporas were more often attracted to the rhetoric of power groups. 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