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

2019 represents the 50^th Anniversary of the takeover of Alcatraz Island by the organization Indians of All Tribes. Blansett’s presentation will discuss his latest book A Journey to Freedom: Richard Oakes, Alcatraz, and the Red Power Movement to discuss Richard Oakes’s critical role in early years of Red Power activism in the 1960s & 1970s. Oakes helped organize the highly publicized Alcatraz, Fort Lawton, and Pit River “takeovers.” His assassination in 1972 galvanized the Trail of Broken Treaties march on Washington, D.C., and unified a movement that eventually ushered in the era of self-determination in the mid 1970s. His presentation will explore the live of Native activist Richard Oakes and illustrate how his actions reflected a unique voice of Indigenous leadership within the Red Power movement. Oakes achieved prominence in the move to occupy Alcatraz Island, in subsequent takeovers for Pit River, Elem, Wintu, and Kashaya Nations. Blansett uses Richard Oakes’s life as a lens to highlight the development of Indian Cities in Brooklyn, San Francisco, and Seattle while exploring the intersections of Native Nationalism and Red Power.