Red Power movement

The Red Power movement was a social movement which was led by Native American youth who demanded self-determination for Native Americans in the United States. Organizations that were part of the Red Power Movement include the American Indian Movement (AIM) and the National Indian Youth Council (NIYC). This movement advocated the belief that Native Americans should have the right to implement their own policies and programs along with the belief that Native Americans should maintain and control their own land and resources. The Red Power movement took a confrontational and civil disobedience approach in an attempt to incite changes in Native American affairs in the United States compared to using negotiations and settlements, which national Native American groups such as National Congress of American Indians had before. Red Power centered around mass action, militant action, and unified action.

The phrase "Red Power", attributed to the author Vine Deloria, Jr, was commonly used by Native Americans who developed a growing sense of pan-Indian identity with other American Indians in the United States in the late 1960s.

Some of the events which the movement was involved in throughout the era included the Occupation of Alcatraz, the Trail of Broken Treaties, the Occupation of Wounded Knee, and numerous intermittent protests and occupations. The lasting impression of the Red Power movement was the resurrection of American Indian pride, action, and awareness. Many bills and laws were also enacted in favor of American Indians in response to the Red Power movement, one of the most important being the reversal of tribe recognition termination.

Early indigenous activism and the roots of Red Power

Although the Red Power movement is commonly associated with the late 1960s and early 1970s, its foundations were laid in earlier decades through Indigenous resistance to federal policies of termination and assimilation.