Yeah Uh Huh Episode 31 - The IOAT Occupation of Alcatraz with Mary Connolly

Mary Twiss Connolly is a great friend.  Mary is Lakota Indian,  and on a recent trip to San Francisco she was pleasantly surprised to find that her great aunt Stella Runnels Leach,  who she had fond memories of as a child, was a central figure in one of the most courageous and progressive examples of activism by indigenous citizens of the 1970's... the Indians Of All Tribes' (IOAT) occupation of Alcatraz Island.  As the resident medic, Stella was responsible for ensuring the health and well being of every man,  woman and child during the 19 months of the occupation,  navigating difficult obstacles imposed by Richard Nixon's hostile administration in addition to natural threats posed by a facility that had been left abandoned since it had last been used as a state prison six years before.  Stella worked closely with organizers Richard Oakes,  Lanada Means and John Trudell to try and reclaim a parcel of land that conditions of the Treaty of Laramie entitled them to.  The occupation ended peacefully,  just as the purchase of Manhattan Island for pennies on the dollar had some 200 years before.  But the actions of these courageous Americans will have a place in our hearts at Yeah Uh Huh for every Thanksgiving moving forward. As an addendum to this episode,  Mary gave us a list of important IOAT members whose influence continues to affect positive change for indigenous people today Vine Delouria Jr. John Trudell ("All There Is To It" from Farm Aid 1993 plays at the end of the episode) Richard Twiss Russell Means Dennis Banks Stella Runnels Leach's Wikipedia Page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stella_Leach Great Film on the Occupation of Alcatraz https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbWxeQNYPVg&t=443s Richard Oakes and the Occupation of Alcatraz https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9fw4KRRafg The Education Archive - Occupation of Alcatraz https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76CKFktIWis Yeah Uh Huh on Facebook https://facebook.com/yeahuhhuhpod Yeah Uh Huh on Twitter https://twitter.com/yeahuhhuhpod Yeah Uh Huh on Instagram https://instagram.com/yeahuhhuhpod Yeah Uh Huh on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG_uZ9NOhjAkBBxHFMI_81A Yeah Uh Huh Website https://yeah-uh-huh.com