Red Power movement
The Red Power movement was a social movement which was led by Native American youth who demanded self-determination for Native Americans in the United States. Organizations that were part of the Red Power Movement include the American Indian Movement and the National Indian Youth Council. This movement advocated the belief that Native Americans should have the right to implement their own policies and programs along with the belief that Native Americans should maintain and control their own land and resources. The Red Power movement took a confrontational and civil disobedience approach in an attempt to incite changes in Native American affairs in the United States compared to using negotiations and settlements, which national Native American groups such as National Congress of American Indians had before. Red Power centered around mass action, militant action, and unified action.
The phrase "Red Power", attributed to the author Vine Deloria, Jr, was commonly used by Native Americans who developed a growing sense of pan-Indian identity with other American Indians in the United States in the late 1960s.
Some of the events which the movement was involved in throughout the era included the Occupation of Alcatraz, the Trail of Broken Treaties, the Occupation of Wounded Knee, and numerous intermittent protests and occupations. The lasting impression of the Red Power movement was the resurrection of American Indian pride, action, and awareness. Many bills and laws were also enacted in favor of American Indians in response to the Red Power movement, one of the most important being the reversal of tribe recognition termination.
Early Indigenous Activism and the Roots of Red Power
Although the Red Power movement is commonly associated with the late 1960s and early 1970s, its foundations were laid in earlier decades through Indigenous resistance to federal policies of termination and assimilation. Organizations such as the National Congress of American Indians, founded in 1944, and the Association on American Indian Affairs played a crucial role in advocating for Native rights within the political system. These groups pushed back against policies that sought to dissolve tribal governments and assimilate Indigenous peoples into mainstream American society.While these early efforts were often non-confrontational and reformist in nature, they were instrumental in cultivating a sense of pan-Indian identity and laying the groundwork for more radical forms of activism. During the 1950s and early 1960s, Native leaders participated in national political discourse, lobbying Congress, engaging in legal challenges, and organizing educational initiatives. These activities helped prepare a generation of young Indigenous activists who, inspired by the civil rights and Black Power movements, would later lead direct action campaigns under the banner of Red Power.
Scholars such as Daniel Cobb argue that the activism of this era should be seen not as separate from but as part of a broader continuum that culminated in Red Power. The movement's emergence was not a sudden rupture but rather a shift in strategy and tone, as Indigenous activists increasingly embraced direct action, media-savvy protest, and a more confrontational stance toward the federal government.
From 1953 to 1964, the United States government terminated recognition of more than 100 tribes and bands as sovereign dependent nations with the House Concurrent Resolution 108. This resolution stated that the tribes would be under US law and treated as American citizens instead of having the status as wards of the US. The affected tribes were no longer protected by the government and stripped of their right to govern their own people.
The Relocation Act of 1956 resulted in as many as 750,000 American Indians migrating to cities during the period from 1950 to 1980. This Act was implemented to encourage and provide support for American Indians to find jobs in cities and improve their lives from the poverty-ridden reservations. The government offered vocational training, housing, and financial support for those who chose to relocate. These promised amenities were often not provided or inadequately provided, resulting in American Indians distanced from their cultural lands and economically worse off than before.
The Relocation and Termination era described above fueled the resistance of American Indians. The oldest recognized National American Indian group was National Congress of American Indians, established in 1944. NCAI set a precedent by successfully being the first multi-tribal political organization run entirely by Indians. NCAI fought against voting discrimination, against the termination of government to government relationship between the US and native tribes, and against US interference in tribal counsels. They aimed to close gaps between Indians who lived on reservations and those who had relocated to cities, elderly and Indian Youth, and different tribes from one another. NCAI was the main political organization that preceded the Red Power Movement.
Main organizations involved
American Indian Movement
At the forefront of the Red Power Movement was American Indian Movement, which was founded in 1968 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Originally a movement that focused on responding to cases of racial profiling and police brutality which was the initial cause of their rise of recognition. Its members belonged to and mainly represented urban Indian communities, and its leaders were young and militant. Like the Black Panthers and the Brown Berets, AIM was initially organized for the purpose of advocating Indian civil rights in cities. Its members monitored the practices of law enforcement agencies, and they also attempted to document and prevent acts of police harassment and brutality. AIM soon played a major role in building a network of urban Indian centers, churches, and philanthropic organizations. It helped establish the "powwow circuit," which publicized news about protest activities across the country. It is also working towards coordinating employment programs for people all around the United States. Skillful in attracting attention from the news media, AIM inspired local chapters and writing about American Indian political issues. By late 1972 and early 1973 –the height of its activism– the American Indian Movement had significantly changed and moved away from civil rights and urban issues towards treaty rights and reservation politics. During the 71-day occupation of the tiny hamlet of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, AIM declared the Independent Oglala Nation and set up a warrior society.National Indian Youth Council
The National Indian Youth Council was founded in 1961 by young American Indians who were college students or recent college graduates. The goal of these individuals was to protect the rights of Indian treaty, hunting, and fishing. After it was founded, their actions changed to fight for Native American rights, their idea was to go a different direction which was direct action. Direct action meant fish-ins and protest marches also inspiring the American Indian Movement to also take this direct action in their movement. They were one of the first militant Indian rights organizations following the conservative ways of the NCAI. NIYC were strong opponents of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and were involved in many of the events in the Red Power Movement. Like AIM, the council believed in and fought for the recognition of tribes federally and reinstating tribal governance.Women of All Red Nations
Women of All Red Nations emerged in 1974 from the main founders, Lorelei DeCora Means, Madonna Thunderhawk, Phyllis Young, Janet McCloud, and others. WARN acted as a branch from AIM that focused on American Indian women's reproductive, family rights, and individual civil rights. WARN included millions of women from numerous different tribes. Not only these rights but also treaty rights that was inclusive of social, economic, and environmental. Main issues that WARN fought against were the forced sterilization of Native women and the lack of adequate health services on the reservations. WARN took action by becoming involved in Indian custody battles, protesting mining companies who were poisoning food and water sources, and collecting data on Indian women who had been sterilized without consent.International Indian Treaty Council
The International Indian Treaty Council was founded in 1974 in Standing Rock, South Dakota. More than 98 Indigenous tribes were represented by over 5000 people at this first gathering. IITC grew into a voice for Indians internationally—covering North, Central, and South America, the Caribbean, and the Pacific. IITC focuses on the pursuit of sovereignty and self-determination for indigenous peoples through activism, training, and unified gatherings. As the first indigenous organization to be granted Consultive Status by the United Nations Economic and Social Council in 1977, IITC was able to represent the concerns and fight for the acknowledgement of indigenous rights to the UN.Events
From 1969 to the Longest Walk of 1978, the Red Power Movement highlighted issues through social protest. Its goals were for the federal government to honor treaty obligations and provide financial "resources, education, housing and healthcare to alleviate poverty." The RPM wanted to gain Indian participation in social institutions; it was instrumental in supporting the founding of Indian colleges, as well as the creation of Indian studies programs at existing institutions, and the establishment of museums and cultural centers to celebrate Indian contributions.The 1960s marked the beginning of a "Native American Renaissance" in literature. New books such as Vine Deloria, Jr.'s Custer Died for Your Sins and the classic Black Elk Speaks, reprinted from the 1930s, reached millions of readers inside and outside Indian communities. A wide variety of Indian writers, historians, and essayists gained publication following these successes and new authors were widely read. N. Scott Momaday won the Pulitzer Prize for one of his novels and Leslie Silko received acclaim. Fiction and nonfiction works about Indian life and lore have continued to attract a large audience. Authors such as Louise Erdrich and Michael Dorris have earned continued recognition. Since the late twentieth century, novels by Sherman Alexie have been adapted for film as well.