After an October 1969 fire destroyed the American Indian Center in San Francisco, Native American activists took over the abandoned Alcatraz Island (actually a rock), offering beads and cloth for the deed to the land (a sarcastic offer based upon the myth that the Dutch bought Manhattan Island for such). The Native American occupiers called themselves the “Indians of All Tribes, Inc.,” led by the Mohawk Richard Oakes, with representatives of Mohawk, Cherokee and other indigenous people. (These Native American activists had relocated to the Bay Area in order to protest against the United States government's policies that took aboriginal land away from American Indians and aimed to destroy their cultures. They were an unlikely mix of Indian college activists, families with children fresh off reservations and urban dwellers disenchanted with what they called the U.S. government's economic, social and political neglect. Since well before Modoc and Hopi leaders were held at Alcatraz in the late 1800s, U.S. policy toward Indians had worsened, despite repeated pleas from American Indian leaders to honor treaties and tribal sovereignty.) The Native American activists arranged to board one of three pleasure boats in Sausalito with activists Richard Oakes, LaNada Means, John Trudell and others, who had attempted another occupation just weeks before, arguing reclamation rights under the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie, which stated that Indians would be granted unused federal land on Indian property. This time they were successful, and the occupation lasted for nearly eighteen months, from November 20, 1969 to June 11, 1971. 

The San Francisco Chronicle sent a photographer and reporter Tim Findley to witness the 3:15 a.m. occupation of the island. He reported: “An occupation force of more than 80 young American Indians landed on Alcatraz Island before dawn yesterday and proclaimed it ‘free Indian land’ by ‘right of discovery.’” Reclaiming it as Indian land, they demanded fairness and respect for Indian peoples. Once they had captured the island, along with the media’s attention, the group issued a proclamation to the “Great White Father” outlining their goals and demands.  One of their goals was to turn the island into a center for Native American culture and studies, which would “train our young people in the best of our native cultural arts and sciences, as well as educate them to the skills and knowledge relevant to improve the lives and spirits of all Indian peoples.” It soon became clear that the protesters wanted to represent the desires of all Native Americans. 

Although the Native American activists were finally removed by federal marshals, the Alcatraz occupation is recognized today as one of the most important events in contemporary Native American history. The occupation of Alcatraz was the first intertribal protest action to focus the nation's attention on the situation of native peoples in the United States. The Native American  occupiers said it was about human rights. It was an effort to restore the dignity of the more than 554 American Indian nations in the United States. Historians and other experts say the occupation—though chaotic and laced with tragedy—improved conditions for the 2 million American Indians and Alaska Natives alive today. According to Vine Deloria Jr., a Native American University of Colorado-Boulder law professor, philosopher, author and historian, “Alcatraz was a big enough symbol that for the first time this century Indians were taken seriously.”

It is said that Alcatraz occupation changed everything. It ignited a protest movement which culminated with the occupation of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Reservation of the Oglala Sioux in South Dakota in 1973. Because of the attention brought to the plight of the American Indian communities, as a result of the occupation, federal laws were created which demonstrated new respect for aboriginal land rights and for the freedom of American Indians to maintain their traditional cultures.