Editing Alcatraz Island (section)

===Native American occupation===
{{Main|Occupation of Alcatraz}}
[[File:Alcatraz Island - panoramio (3).jpg|thumb|A lingering sign of the [[Occupation of Alcatraz|1969–1971 Native American occupation]]]]

Alcatraz Island was occupied by Native American activists for the first time on March 8, 1964. The protest, proposed by Lakota Sioux activist [[Belva Cottier]] and joined by about 35 others,  was reported by, among others, the ''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]'' and the ''[[San Francisco Examiner]]''.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kamstra |first1=Jerry |title=The Grim Plight of the .... (pt. 1) |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/57206302/the-san-francisco-examiner/ |access-date=August 12, 2020 |date=December 7, 1969 |newspaper=[[San Francisco Examiner|The San Francisco Examiner & Chronicle]] |location=San Francisco, California |page=22 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}{{open access}}</ref>

Beginning on November 20, 1969, a group of [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] called [[Alcatraz-Red Power Movement|United Indians of All Tribes]], mostly college students from San Francisco, occupied the island to protest federal policies related to American Indians. Some of them were children of Native Americans who had relocated in the city as part of the [[Bureau of Indian Affairs]]' (BIA) [[Indian termination policy]], which was a series of laws and policies aimed at the assimilation of Native Americans into mainstream US society. It encouraged Native Americans to move away from the [[Indian reservations]] and into cities to take advantage of health, educational and employment opportunities. A number of employees of the Bureau of Indian Affairs also occupied Alcatraz at that time, including Doris Purdy, an amateur photographer, who later produced footage of her stay on the island.<ref>{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1md5YYKl-9g| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211029/1md5YYKl-9g| archive-date=2021-10-29|title=Occupation of Alcatraz, 11-29-1969|date=November 27, 2008|via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

The occupiers, who stayed on the island for nearly two years, demanded that the island's facilities be adapted and new structures built for an Indian education center, ecology center, and cultural center. The American Indians claimed the island by provisions of the [[Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868)]] between the US and the Sioux; they said the treaty promised to return all retired, abandoned, or out-of-use federal lands to the native peoples from whom they were acquired. Indians of All Tribes claimed Alcatraz Island by the "[[Doctrine of Discovery|Right of Discovery]]"; as historian Troy R. Johnson states in ''The Occupation of Alcatraz Island'', generations of [[indigenous peoples]] knew about Alcatraz at least 10,000 years before any European knew about any part of North America. Begun by urban Indians of San Francisco, the occupation attracted other Native Americans from across the country, including [[American Indian Movement]] (AIM) urban activists from [[Minneapolis]].

[[File:Alcatraz cellhouse, lighthouse and Warden's House ruins.jpg|thumb|The Alcatraz cellhouse, lighthouse, and Warden's House, which was burned out during the 1969–1971 Native American occupation]]During the nineteen months and nine days of occupation by the American Indians, several buildings at Alcatraz were damaged or destroyed by fire, including the lighthouse keeper's home, the warden's home, the Officers' Club,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bop.gov/about/history/alcatraz.jsp|title=Alcatraz Origins |date=March 11, 1016 |publisher=Federal Bureau of Prisons|access-date=February 7, 2019 |quote=much damage occurred (graffiti, vandalism, and a fire that destroyed the lighthouse keeper's home, the Warden's home, and the Officers' Club)}}</ref> the recreation hall, and the Coast Guard quarters. The origin of the fires is disputed. The US government demolished a number of other buildings (mostly apartments) after the occupation had ended. [[Graffiti]] from the period of Native American occupation is still visible at many locations on the island.<ref>[http://www.csulb.edu/~aisstudy/alcatraz/index.html Alcatraz Island] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060923165533/http://www.csulb.edu/~aisstudy/alcatraz/index.html |date=September 23, 2006 }}, California State University Long Beach</ref>

During the occupation, President [[Richard Nixon]] rescinded the Indian termination policy, designed by earlier administrations to end federal recognition of many tribes and their special relationship with the US government. He established a new [[Native American self-determination|policy of self-determination]], in part as a result of the publicity and awareness created by the occupation. The occupation ended on June 11, 1971.<ref>Indians of All Tribes, ''Alcatraz Is Not an Island'', Berkeley, Wingbow Press, 1972</ref>