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Red Power Movement Research Paper

Decent Essays

Question 10: Red Power’s Impact on American Indian Identity The Red Power movement and especially events like Alcatraz, as well as the grassroots movement helped American Indians to restore their pride and culture and to finally redefine their identity as Indians. Before the period of activism (1960s/1970s), many Natives were not able to openly identify themselves as Indians and to run free in their “Indianness”, because of the stereotypical stigmatization as poor, savages, uncivilized, etc. The movement’s activism is significant for the recreation of the Indian identity and had an enormous impact on American Indian societies, especially in the urban areas. Major Red Power events like Alcatraz are symbols for the renewed Indian pride and identity, because they gave American Indians a feeling of community and …show more content…

Furthermore, American Indian organizations and activist groups like AIM and NIYC “emphasized the rights of all tribes and all Indians, combined to legitimize and empower supratribal Indianness as an identity, a source of pride, and a basis for activism” (Nagel “The Politics of American Indian Ethnicity” 137), which encouraged especially youths to return to their Native roots. In this connection, the grassroots movement in the cities, which of course counts to Red Power, plays a major role. It established various services, for example Health Care Centers, Community Schools and study programs, for American Indians. In his article, Nicolas G. Rosenthal describes the work of the Indian Health Care Centers as crucial to advocate for self-determination and embrace Indian identity (142, 153), which shows how important activism was in urban areas. Additional, the Milwaukee Community School, where academics were combined with traditional Indian cultures to provide a sense of identity (Krouse 535,

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