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The takeover and occupation, which attracted a ground swell of support from across the nation, lasted nineteen months ending on June 11, 1971. The 50th Anniversary of the Occupation of Alcatraz by the Indians of All Tribes will take place November 20-23, 2019. They sought to develop an environmental and cultural center and a school that would allow them to teach native languages and customs to preserve the cultural heritage that had been denied them by government programs that practiced forced assimilation.
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The students seized the land not only as a political statement but a cultural one. Alcatraz, formerly a federal prison, was closed under the Kennedy administration in 1963 therefore, the unused land fell under the provision of the Treaty that provided for resettlement by Indians. The activists relied on federal policy and a provision of the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie that authorized Indians to settle land unused by the federal government. On November 20, 1969, an additional eighty-nine Indian occupiers that included entire families, joined them on the island. Led by student activists, Richard Oakes, from San Francisco State and LaNada WarJack from UC Berkeley, fourteen American Indian student activists initiated the takeover on November 9, 1969. The event is intended to bring together veterans of the occupation and to educate visitors to the island about the history and struggles of the American Indian. The event will be celebrated with four days of prayer, ceremony, speakers, and entertainment beginning November 20 through November 23, 2019, on Alcatraz Island in conjunction with the National Park Service.
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SAN FRANCISCO, California - Indians of All Tribes will be celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the historic takeover and occupation of Alcatraz in 1969.