A Journey to Freedom: Richard Oakes, Alcatraz, and the Red Power Movement

Most books about the Red Power movement, including Clyde H. Bellecourt and Jon Lurie's The Thunder Before the Storm, focus on the influence of organizations such as the American Indian Movement (AIM) and/or National Congress of American Indians in envisioning and creating the pan-Indian movement. Blansett (history, Native American studies, Univ. of Nebraska at Omaha) challenges that narrative in this biography of Richard Oakes (1942–72), a Akwesasne Mohawk whose activism and leadership was pivotal at the occupation of Alcatraz in 1969. Oakes's role diminished as other agendas emerged, leading to his abandonment of the protest. Further demonstrations followed, but Oakes was unable to regain his former standing. According to Blansett, Oakes saw pan-Indianism as a vehicle to address issues that were pertinent to individual Native nations, putting him at odds with the goals of AIM and its allies. After Oakes's assassination in 1972, his former allies realized his import and utilized his martyrdom to help launch the Trail of Broken Treaties March on Washington, DC.