Search results
Alcatraz is an island in San Francisco Bay, in California . It occupies an area of 22 acres (9 hectares) and is about 1.5 miles (2 kilometers) offshore from San Francisco . It is also called The Rock.
- Related Articles
Kids Students Scholars. About Us. kids. Kids; Students;...
- Alcatraz Island
Alcatraz Island. The federal penitentiary on Alcatraz...
- Related Articles
- Overview
- HISTORY Vault: Native American History
In 1969, a group of rebel activists took over America’s most notorious prison for more than 19 months.
Since the mid-1960s, American Indians had been on a mission to break into Alcatraz. After the famed prison shuttered its doors in 1963, Bay Area Native Americans began lobbying to have the island redeveloped as an Indian cultural center and school. Five Sioux even landed on Alcatraz in March 1964 and tried to seize it under an 1868 treaty that allowed Indians to appropriate surplus federal land.
These early efforts all failed, but reclaiming “the Rock” became a rallying cry for Indians, many of whom viewed the island as a symbol of government indifference toward the Indigenous population.
More to History: Native American Solidarity at Alcatraz
When an October 1969 fire destroyed San Francisco’s American Indian Center, an activist group known as “Indians of All Tribes” set their sights on the unused land at Alcatraz. A handful of protestors first journeyed to the island on November 9, 1969, under the leadership of Mohawk college student Richard Oakes. They only stayed for a night before the authorities removed them, but Oakes stressed that the landing had been a symbolic act. “If a one-day occupation by white men on Indian land years ago established squatter’s rights,” he told The San Francisco Chronicle, “then the one-day occupation of Alcatraz should establish Indian rights to the island.”
Indians of All Tribes made a final attempt to seize Alcatraz in the early morning hours of November 20, 1969—this time with an occupation force of 89 men, women and children. After sailing through San Francisco Bay under cover of darkness, the Indians landed at Alcatraz and claimed the island for all the tribes of North America.
From Comanche warriors to Navajo code talkers, learn more about Indigenous history.
WATCH NOW
- 1 min
Alcatraz Island was a seabird habitat when it was explored in 1775 by Lieutenant Juan Manuel de Ayala of Spain, who named it Isla de los Alcatraces (“Isle of the Pelicans”). Sold in 1849 to the U.S. government, Alcatraz became the site of the first lighthouse on the coast of California in 1854. The U.S. Army built fortifications on the ...
We Hold the Rock. European discovery and exploration of the San Francisco Bay Area and its islands began in 1542 and culminated with the mapping of the bay in 1775. Early visitors to the Bay Area were preceded 10,000 to 20,000 years earlier, however, by the native people indigenous to the area. Prior to the coming of the Spanish and Portuguese ...
Aug 30, 2023 · Alcatraz has a many-layered history: Civil War fortress, military prison, federal prison, bird sanctuary, first lighthouse on the West Coast, and the birthplace of the American Indian Red Power movement: These are just a few of the fascinating stories of the Rock. Alcatraz Island is a designated National Historic Landmark for its significant ...
People also ask
Why did the Indians come to Alcatraz Island?
How long did indigenous people occupy Alcatraz?
Where is Alcatraz Island?
Did Native Americans occupy Alcatraz?
May 10, 2024 · Alcatraz Island. The federal penitentiary on Alcatraz Island, San Francisco Bay, California. The island had little vegetation and was a seabird habitat when it was explored in 1775 by Lieut. Juan Manuel de Ayala, who named it Isla de los Alcatraces (“Isle of the Pelicans”). Sold in 1849 to the U.S. government, Alcatraz was the site of the ...
Oct 24, 2019 · Fifty years ago, Native American activists occupied Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay. This October 14 — Indigenous Peoples’ Day — Native American tribes from across the country and ...
