1969: Indians from various tribes set up an occupation of Alcatraz Island in an attempt to establish a cultural center, museum, and community for any Native American who wants to live there. The occupation lasts until 1971 when FBI agents and federal marshals forcibly remove the Indians who remained after two years of fighting with the U.S. government.

1973: Members of the American Indian Movement (AIM) lead 200 Sioux Indians in a seventy- one-day takeover of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, to demand a review of at least 300 treaties with the U.S. government.

1989: In Browning, Montana, the Blackfoot tribe win a dispute with the Smithsonian Institution when the museum has to return the remains of sixteen of their ancestors for burial on native soil.

1990: Leaders from the United States and the Soviet Union say no to a proposal by environmentalists at the Geneva Convention to burn less...