Alcatraz Island, Occupation of

The Occupation

On November 20, 1969, 79 individuals, mostly students but also including families and children, set out from San Francisco to occupy Alcatraz Island on a long-term basis. They included fourteen students who had already stayed overnight on the island earlier in the month. The protesters, and others who would later join them, did their best to set up a functioning community on the island. Eventually, the community began publishing a newsletter; one member, John Trudell, even began making daily radio broadcasts to the outside world.

The occupiers made long-term plans to redevelop the island for Indian needs, including plans at one point to establish a center for Native American studies, a Native American spiritual center, and even a Native American museum. The number of occupiers grew over time, and some celebrities traveled to the island to make an appearance in support of the occupiers or donated funds and other resources.

However, the community of occupiers was not immune to conflict. There were power struggles within the leadership group of original protesters. Eventually, the occupiers had to deal with new occupiers who had brought drugs with them, or who had come for less than noble purposes. Things came to a head on January 3, 1970, when 13-year old Yvonne Oakes, stepdaughter of Richard Oakes, one of the original student leaders, fell to her death. Though a federal inquiry would later rule it an accident, circumstances surrounding the girl's death remain mysterious. Broken-hearted by the loss, Richard Oakes and his wife, Annie, left the island. By the end of May, the government had cut off electrical power and all telephone services to the island. The next month a mysterious fire destroyed much of the island's infrastructure. Those circumstances, combined with the fact that many of the original protesters had left to return to school or for other reasons, showed that the occupation was losing both momentum and focus. In addition, the occupation was starting to lose its cause célèbre status and was fading from the public eye. Finally, on June 11, 1971, federal forces removed the remaining 15 occupiers.

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