The American Indian Movement

The American Indian Movement (AIM) was an important militant group in the early 1970s. It was founded in Minneapolis in 1968 and was led by Dennis Banks and Russell Means. In November 1972, members of AIM drew attention to the plight of American Indians in modern times by taking over the headquarters of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C. A more dramatic statement was made during the period between February and May, 1973, when AIM occupied the town of Wounded Knee in the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota. After the Wounded Knee occupation, the United States government made a systematic and concerted effort to disband AIM and other organizations like it. Although the movement had come to an end by the mid-1970s, it had already made an important contribution to the development of Indian rights at that time. By bringing the attention of the American people to the problems of Indians, AIM provided an important step toward the solving of those problems.

The rise of the American Indian Movement in the early 1970s was not an isolated event. In fact, it stemmed from more than a century of government domination and Indian protests. In the early 1800s, the United States government instituted a policy in which Indians were placed on reservations while white settlers were given traditional Indian lands. In 1824, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) was formed for the purpose of overseeing this policy. In the period following the American Civil War, there were

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nty and enforcement of treaty rights" (Prucha 82). Government officials had promised that the demonstrating Indians would be treated fairly when they arrived in the capital. However, the Indians were given sub-standard housing and were denied meetings with government representatives. Out of frustration, the Indians took over the local headquarters of the Bureau Indian Affairs. The BIA building was held by the protesters for almost a week while Banks, Means, and other AIM leaders tried unsuccessfully to negotiate with the government. When it looked like the government was going to send in troops to force the demonstrators to evacuate the building, the Indians began tearing up the inside of the building. They did this in part for the purpose of obtaining defensive weapons. In addition, the destruction of the BIA headquarters represented the demonstrators' feelings of "anger and desperation" (82). Finally, the Indian protesters left the building peacefully when the government promised future meetings and provided funds for their return trips home (Josephy 241). Although the promised government meetings were never carried out, the takeover of the BIA building in Washington drew a great deal of public attention to the problems

Category: History - T