United Native Americans occupy Mount Rushmore
Aug. 29, 1970
UNA reclaims the Black Hills for the Lakota Nation 1970
From ICT:
On August 29, 1970, a group of Native Americans led by United Native Americans, ascended Mount Rushmore and set up camp behind the deplorable monument to colonialism that defaces the Black Hills. United Native Americans is a San Francisco-based group established in 1968 to promote Natives’ general welfare. On this day in 1970, 23 young activists made the initial, 3,000-foot climb to the top of the national monument. The occupation lasted for several months and was orchestrated to protest the broken Treaty of Fort Laramie, in which the United States in 1868 had granted the Sioux rights to all land in South Dakota west of the Missouri River.
Among the protesters was Lehman Brightman, an outspoken activist and president of United Native Americans, who helped organize the occupation at the behest of local Sioux people. Brightman, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, was speaking at the National Indian Education Conference in Minneapolis when he learned of the protest. He chartered a bus and made the 600-mile journey to Mount Rushmore with a group of students.
The occupation, which ended in November 1970 when severe winter weather forced Natives to withdraw, is billed as the first Indian uprising in South Dakota since the Sioux defeated Gen. George Armstrong Custer in 1876.
Seven months later, in June 1971, Indian activists again took over Mount Rushmore. Protesters occupied the mountain for 12 hours, demanding that the government honor its treaty promises. Twenty protestors were arrested.
On August 29, 1970, a group of Native Americans led by United Native Americans, ascended Mount Rushmore and set up camp behind the deplorable monument to colonialism that defaces the Black Hills. United Native Americans is a San Francisco-based group established in 1968 to promote Natives’ general welfare. On this day in 1970, 23 young activists made the initial, 3,000-foot climb to the top of the national monument. The occupation lasted for several months and was orchestrated to protest the broken Treaty of Fort Laramie, in which the United States in 1868 had granted the Sioux rights to all land in South Dakota west of the Missouri River.
Among the protesters was Lehman Brightman, an outspoken activist and president of United Native Americans, who helped organize the occupation at the behest of local Sioux people. Brightman, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, was speaking at the National Indian Education Conference in Minneapolis when he learned of the protest. He chartered a bus and made the 600-mile journey to Mount Rushmore with a group of students.
The occupation, which ended in November 1970 when severe winter weather forced Natives to withdraw, is billed as the first Indian uprising in South Dakota since the Sioux defeated Gen. George Armstrong Custer in 1876.
Seven months later, in June 1971, Indian activists again took over Mount Rushmore. Protesters occupied the mountain for 12 hours, demanding that the government honor its treaty promises. Twenty protestors were arrested.