What is the American Indian Movement?

Definition

The American Indian Movement (AIM) is a Native American civil rights organization that began in Minneapolis in 1968. It was founded by Ojibwe activists Dennis Banks and Clyde Bellecourt, alongside George Mitchell, Mary Jane Wilson, Pat Ballenger, and Eddie Benton Banai. At the peak of the movement in the 1960s and 70s, AIM activists spoke out against the discrimination of Indigenous people in housing, education, employment, and through the judicial system. In addition, AIM fought for the reclamation of ancestral land, most of which had been seized due to the Indian Removal Act of 1830. As Andrew Smith writes, 

AIM was part of the wider Red Power movement, a Native American movement focused on self-determination for Indigenous people: 

In this guide, we will explore the origins of the movement, key community initiatives and projects, and AIM's most significant protests, in order to illustrate the impact of AIM within the Native American rights movement. 

Origins of the movement

Though AIM was not founded until 1968, Native Americans had long protested their treatment under the US government. For centuries, Indigenous tribes had suffered from their contact with European colonizers, from the loss of life as a result of exposure to disease and fighting, to forced relocation and the loss of their ancestral lands. Over time, parts of Native American culture had been completely eradicated. (To read about the US removal of tribes, see our study guide “What was the Trail of Tears?”). Many had challenged the removal policy in the 1800s through legal channels, by appealing to the Supreme Court, and others, such as the Seminole, fought removal through guerilla warfare and other forms of active resistance. (For more on Native American resistance during this period, see Edward J. Rielly’s Legends of American Indian Resistance, 2011.)

In 1953, however, a policy of termination was established, ending the financial support for Native Tribes and associated protections of Native-owned lands. A voluntary urban relocation program was offered, encouraging Native Americans to move to the city, as part of a wider goal to assimilate Native American tribes into the US. Removal into the cities, combined with the removal of Native American sovereignty under termination laws, resulted in (among other injustices) police brutality and racial profiling. Though AIM would expand its mission and goals, its primary objective was to tackle discrimination in urban policing. 

The first AIM meeting was attended by hundreds and held in Minneapolis. Initially called the Concerned Indian American Coalition (CIA), the group changed its name to reclaim the term “American Indian.” These meetings were regularly held and focused on how to advocate for Native rights and create community initiatives. 

Social activism

One of AIM’s first actions was founding AIM Patrol in August 1968. This was a citizens’ patrol created in response to police targeting, harassing, and being violent towards Native Americans in Minneapolis. Patrollers were tasked with observing policing in the area, acting as mediators and, if necessary, calling for help should things take a violent turn. Patrollers worked, at first, on Friday and Saturday nights, and could be identified with their red jackets and shirts with the AIM logo printed (seen in Figure 1 below): 

Fig. 1. “Flag of the American Indian Movement,” Wikimedia Commons

Within the first five weeks of the patrol being established, no Native people had been arrested (previously five and six Native arrests were being reported daily). A year later, twenty-two consecutive weeks had passed without any Native American arrests (Brianna Wilson, “AIM Patrol, Minneapolis,” MNopedia, 2016). 

AIM Patrol disbanded around 1975 but was reinstated in 1987 in response to the murders of three Native American women: Kathleen Bullman, Angeline Whitebird Sweet, and Angela Green. 

The patrol also worked with AIM’s other programs such as the Legal Rights Center, a volunteer-led organization (founded in 1970 by Indigenous and Black community activists) which helped find legal assistance for Native American defendants. AIM further supported convicted Native Americans by introducing education programs for offenders, the first of which was Stillwater Prison in Minnesota in 1978.

In addition to legal support for Native Americans, AIM further brought about major changes in healthcare by establishing the Indian Health Board in 1971. The Board provided healthcare for Native Americans, after an Ojibwe woman, Gloria Curtis, died as a result of negligent and discriminatory treatment. 

Adequate schooling for Indigenous people was also a priority for the movement. In 1972, the first AIM school (known as a “Survival School,” an alternative to public schooling) would open (later renamed Heart of the Earth). This would be followed by the Red School House in St. Paul later that year. Such schools addressed the shortage of cultural education that was on the curriculum. (To learn more about these schools from first-hand accounts, see American Archive of Public Broadcasting). AIM was further concerned with education beyond schools, founding the American Indian Opportunities and Industrialization Center (AIOAI) in 1979, a job training programme for Native Americans. 

AIM did much to improve the lives of Native Americans, creating initiatives designed to support and provide opportunities for Indigenous people. However, AIM is more commonly recognized for its protests and demonstrations that garnered media attention:

Protests and demonstrations 

Alcatraz Island, 1969

As Troy Johnson explains, the occupation of Alcatraz Island in November 1969, though not organized by AIM, helped to shape the form of the movement: 

Led by Richard Oakes, a Mohawk Native, and LaNada Means (now Dr. LaNada War Jack), natives from different tribes (collectively known as “Indians of All Tribes”) occupied the island in protest of the injustices they faced in the US. This resulted in a full-scale takeover of the island, lasting until June 1971. Several AIM leaders, such as Banks and Bellecourt, supported the occupation by providing resources and helping with organization and logistics. Alcatraz would serve as an inspiration and a blueprint for AIM’s activism. 

Seizing the Mayflower, 1970

AIM’s first national protest took place on Thanksgiving Day, 1970. To celebrate the 350th anniversary of the Pilgrims’ arrival to Plymouth Rock, Mayflower II was built (a replica of the original Mayflower ship that brought the English colonizers to Plymouth Bay, Massachusetts in 1620). Banks and Russell Means led a group from AIM, alongside local Wampanoag activists, to the site of this new monument:

Protestors declared that, rather than a celebration, the arrival of English colonists should be seen as a “day of mourning”. After protestors spoke about their struggle against the US government to preserve their land and culture, they left peacefully. However, the next day, protesters returned to cover Plymouth Rock red, attracting media attention. Since then, every year, on the fourth Thursday in November (Thanksgiving Day in the US), is “The National Day of Mourning.”  

The Trail of Broken Treaties and The Twenty Points 

AIM activists drew attention to the long history of broken promises and treaties between Native Americans and the US government. On October 6 1972, led by Dennis Banks, Russell Means, and members of the National Indian Youth Council, three caravans departed from Seattle, San Francisco, and LA, passing through Native American reservations, on the way to their final destination: Washington D.C. 

At each reservation, activists would hold drum circles in protest of Indigenous treatment. As Johansen explains, 

When the three caravans, containing around 600 people, converged in Minnesota, they halted to draw up a list of demands to the government over the next few days. Out of this came their twenty-point proposal “The Trail of Broken Treaties” (sometimes referred to as “The Twenty Points”) drafted by Hank Adams: 

1. Restoration of constitutional treaty-making authority [repealing the provision in the 1871 Indian Appropriations Act which meant that Native American tribes and nations were not political entities and could not enter into formal treaties with the US]. 
2. Establishment of a Treaty Commission to make new treaties
3. An address to the American people and joint sessions of Congress
4. Commission to review treaty commitments and violations 
5. Resubmission of unratified treaties to the senate
6. All Indians to be governed by treaty relations 
7. Mandatory relief against treaty rights violations 
8. Judicial recognition of Indian right to interpret treaties
9. Creation of Congressional Joint Committee on Reconstruction of Indian Relations
10. Land reform and restoration of a 110-million-acre Native land base 
11. Revision of 25 U.S.C 163; Restoration of rights to Indians terminated by enrolment and revocation of prohibitions against “dual benefits” (revision of 25 U.S.C)
12. Repeal of state laws enacted under Public Law 280 (1953)
13. Resume federal protective jurisdiction for offences against Indians 
14. Abolition of the Bureau of Indian Affairs by 1976
15. Creation of an Office of Federal Indian Relations and Community Reconstruction
16. Priorities and purpose of the new proposed office would be to [...] “remedy the break-down in constitutionally-prescribed relationships between the United States and the Indian Nations and people and to alleviate the destructive impact that distortion in those relationships has rendered upon the lives of Indian people.”
17. Indian commerce and tax immunities [...] “trade, commerce, and transportation of Indians remain wholly outside the authority, control, and regulation of the several States.”
18. Protection of Indians’ religious freedom and cultural integrity
19. National referendums, local options, and forms of Indian organization
20. Health, housing, employment, economic development, and education

(For an expansion on each of these points, see “Trail of Broken Treaties, 20-Point Position Paper,” AIM).

With clearly defined objectives, the caravan of cars, trucks, and buses traveled onwards to Washington D.C, arriving on the evening of November 2, with cars containing around 1,000 people stretching four miles. When they arrived, without lodging or supplies, activists spent the night in the basement of St. Stephen and the Incarnation Church. They soon discovered that the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) “had directed employees there not to recognize or extend aid to the caravan’s members” (Johansen, 2013). Indignant at this insult, AIM occupied the BIA building, referred to by Michael Leroy Oberg as the place “many native peoples most closely associated with their mistreatment and marginalization” (Native America, 2017):

However, the protest failed to achieve its goals, with President Nixon dismissing their proposal as impractical. On November 8, AIM were offered immunity and the cost of their transportation home, which was accepted. However, this was not the last of AIM’s protests. 

Wounded Knee occupation, 1973

The occupation of the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, the site of the Wounded Knee massacre (1890), was one of the most significant events in AIM’s history. The occupation lasted for 71 days and resulted in the death of two activists: Frank Clearwater (Cherokee and Apache) and Lawrence "Buddy" Lamont (Oglala).

The conflict arose as an attempt to oust the chairman of the Oglala Lakota Tribe, Richard Wilson: 

The Lakota elders had accused Wilson of being “a BIA puppet authority” (Holm, 2010). Wilson’s tribal police, known as “the Goon Squad” were tasked with keeping this opposition under control. The Squad “broke up traditional assemblies, harassed individuals, and illegally searched traditional homes and vehicles” (Holm, 2013). The Oglalas responded by forming the Oglala Sioux Civil Rights Organization with the aim of impeaching Wilson. When AIM was called to protect the Oglalas from the tribal police, Wilson and the tribal council banned members of AIM from using tribal property and portrayed them as a threat to Oglala tribal sovereignty. This resulted in around 200 people, made up of the Oglala and AIM activists, occupying Wounded Knee on February 27 and declaring their independence from the Oglala Constitution (1935): 

The activists demanded that an investigation be launched into Wilson’s corruption and hearings be held regarding broken treaties with the government and the Native American Nations. The government rejected these demands outright: 

The occupation became a huge media spectacle and was covered extensively on multiple television networks. As T. Adams Upchurch explains “It became the third most documented event of the decade, behind only the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal” (Race Relations in the United States,·1960-1980, 2007). 

On May 8, the protestors surrendered when the government promised to investigate their complaints. Means and Banks were arrested that following September, but the charges were dismissed. 

One reason for the lack of convictions was due to the media attention and the changing sympathies of the US public. As Upchurch elaborates there was, 

However, as Upchurch highlights, the occupation did not the end of the problems on Pine Ridge: 

The Longest Walk (1978)

On July 15 1978, a five-month march from San Francisco to Washington took place to raise awareness about Native American sovereignty, treaty rights, and social inequality in areas like housing and employment:

The Longest Walk, organized by Banks, intended to protest eleven pieces of legislation that were due to be passed that would terminate the relationship between Native Americans and the US government and revoke hunting and fishing rights. The march began at Alcatraz Island: 

The march ended with a peaceful rally in Washington on July 25, with leaders issuing their demands in a manifesto entitled “Affirmation of Sovereignty of the Indigenous Peoples of the Western Hemisphere.” Some of their demands are detailed below: 

The eleven proposed bills did not pass into law, highlighting the significance of this march. Anne Keary explains that, 

International recognition

Though AIM began by focusing on urban areas in the US, it gradually expanded its scope: 

In that same year, the IITC became “the first Indigenous Peoples’ organization to be recognized as a non-governmental organization (NGO) with Consultative Status to the United Nations Economic and Social Council” (“About ITTC,” International Indian Treaty Council). Since then, the organization has garnered further international recognition and currently carries out training for Indigenous people and communities on human rights processes to enable them to defend their rights.  

Legacy of the movement

In the heyday of the movement from 1969 to 1975, AIM brought to light the many injustices Native Americans faced (and continue to face) in the United States, from police brutality and racial profiling to the removal of sovereign rights. AIM has gone on to inspire Native Americans to advocate for their rights; for example, in 2017, the Standing Rock Sioux tribe protested the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) on the grounds that it threatened valuable cultural resources on the reservation and posed a serious risk to the survival of the tribe. (For more on current Native American environmental activism, within social, political, and economic contexts, see Jaskiran Dhillon’s Indigenous Resurgence,[2022]).

AIM is still active today as a lobbyist group, though the movement’s influence has dwindled since the 1970s. However, as Gregory R. Campbell points out, 

Further reading 

Art for an Undivided Earth: The American Indian Movement Generation (2017) by Jessica L. Horton

The Death of Raymond Yellow Thunder: And Other True Stories from the Nebraska–Pine Ridge Border Towns (2020) by Stew Magnuson

Native Activism in Cold War America: The Struggle for Sovereignty (2008) by Daniel M. Cobb

Native American Issues: A Reference Handbook (2005) by William N. Thompson

Bibliography 

Campbell, G. R. (2013) “American Indian Movement,” in Skutsch, C. (ed.) Encyclopedia of the World's Minorities. Routledge. Available at: 

https://www.perlego.com/book/1680134/encyclopedia-of-the-worlds-minorities 

Dhillon, J. (2022) Indigenous Resurgence: Decolonialization and Movements for Environmental Justice. Berghahn Books. Available at:

https://www.perlego.com/book/3449497/indigenous-resurgence-decolonialization-and-movements-for-environmental-justice

Gitlin, M. (2010) Wounded Knee Massacre. Greenwood. Available at: 

https://www.perlego.com/book/4183909/wounded-knee-massacre 

Hitchmough, S. and Mays, K. T. (2024) Rethinking the Red Power Movement. Routledge. Available at: 

https://www.perlego.com/book/4412533/rethinking-the-red-power-movement 

Holm, T. (2010) Strong Hearts, Wounded Souls: Native American Veterans of the Vietnam War. University of Texas Press. Available at: 

https://www.perlego.com/book/3273917/strong-hearts-wounded-souls-native-american-veterans-of-the-vietnam-war 

Johansen, B. E. (2013) Encyclopedia of the American Indian Movement. Greenwood. Available at: 

https://www.perlego.com/book/4183554/encyclopedia-of-the-american-indian-movement 

Johnson, T. (1999) Contemporary Native American Political Issues. AltaMira Press. 

Johnson, T. R. (2007) “Red Power Movement,” in Johansen, B. E. and Pritzker, B. M. (eds.) American Indian History: Volume 2. ABC-CLIO. Available at: 

https://www.perlego.com/book/4199388/encyclopedia-of-american-indian-history-4-volumes 

Keary, A. (2007) “Longest Walk, 1978,” in Fixico, D. L. (ed.) Treaties with American Indians. ABC-CLIO. Available at: 

https://www.perlego.com/book/4199343/treaties-with-american-indians-an-encyclopedia-of-rights-conflicts-and-sovereignty-3-volumes 

Long, M. G. (2021) “The Longest Walk,” in Long, M. G. (ed.) We the Resistance: Documenting a History of Nonviolent Protest in the United States. City Lights Publishers. Available at: 

https://www.perlego.com/book/3592764/we-the-resistance-documenting-a-history-of-nonviolent-protest-in-the-united-states 

Oberg, M. L. (2017) Native America: A History. Wiley-Blackwell. Available at: 

https://www.perlego.com/book/990844/native-america-a-history 

Reilly, E. J. (2011) Legends of American Indian Resistance. Greenwood. Available at: 

https://www.perlego.com/book/4168687/legends-of-american-indian-resistance 

Smith, A. (2017) “American Indian Movement (AIM),” in Stooksbury, K. E., Scheb II, J. M., and Stephens Jr, O. H. (eds.) Encyclopedia of American Civil Rights and Liberties, vol 1. ABC-CLIO. Available at: 

https://www.perlego.com/book/4203956/encyclopedia-of-american-civil-rights-and-liberties-revised-and-expanded-edition-4-volumes 

Tóth, G. F. (2016) From Wounded Knee to Checkpoint Charlie: The Alliance for Sovereignty between American Indians and Central Europeans in the Late Cold War. SUNY Press. Available at: 

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Von Blum, P. (2016) Civil Rights for Beginners. For Beginners. Available at: 

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Wilson, B. (2016) “AIM Patrol, Minneapolis,” MNopedia. Available at:

https://www.mnopedia.org/group/aim-patrol-minneapolis