Summary

The Indian civil rights movement used the system’s political and legal levers to reform it and also took direct action to disrupt it. The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), under the leadership of Vine Deloria Jr. (Standing Rock Sioux), rolled back termination, restored treaty rights, repatriated land, secured cultural and religious prerogatives, and strengthened cooperative action among tribes. The National Indian Youth Council, led by Clyde Warrior (Ponca), called upon Indians to reclaim their self-esteem from the dominant narrative of who they were supposed to be.

In November 1969, Indians in San Francisco occupied the abandoned prison on Alcatraz Island. Poor organization led to the accidental death of a young girl and the burning of buildings. The activists were forcibly removed, but the action influenced President Nixon to reverse the policy of tribal termination. A caravan from Minneapolis to Washington...