Red Power: The Native American Civil Rights Movement

by Troy R. Johnson, Paul C. Rosier (Editor)

The 71-day occupation of the village at Wounded Knee—February 27 to May 8, 1973—is a watershed event in the chronology of American Indian activism because it reflects both the height of the American Indian Movement (AIM) and the beginning of the end of the power of that organization. It was at Wounded Knee Village where government forces surrounded a small, poorly armed band of AIM members who were protesting the death of Raymond Yellow Thunder and Wesley Bad Heart Bull and the subsequent court trials that meted out only minimal sentences for involuntary manslaughter to the non-Indian defendants. AIM members confronted local law enforcement and violently protested against the charges. As a result, the government declared a concentrated, no-holds-barred campaign to remove AIM leadership and to bankrupt the organization. The forceful text, detailed sidebars and chronology, and powerful images presented in Red Power transport readers back to this tense moment in recent American history.

Genres: History

112 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2007

Reviews

[Ed · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent, insightful and very detailed overview of the Red Power movement. Would recommend it as an introduction to the topic.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned so much. Native American rights and their history is something we should educate ourselves on.