Interview with Sacheen Cruz Littlefeather on Alcatraz (1997)

Interview from October 25 1997 on Alcatraz Island with Native American civil rights activist Sacheen Cruz Littlefeather of the White Mountain Apache and Yaqui nations. She is there taking part in a ceremony to honor the Native American occupation of Alcatraz and discusses: why she's on the island as "a celebration of life"; being a student of Adam Nordwall and Don Paterson; her status in the 1960s as "an urban indian"; teaching at D-Q University; her role in the Bay Area Indian Council; reuniting with her brother Bojack Blackfeather; being adopted as a young child; trying to live rooted on the earth; representing Marlon Brando at the Oscars ceremony in 1973; the 1973 Wounded Knee occipation; how "the media had such a slanted view of Native American people" and becoming a healer and an elder, who is teaching younger generations about their heritage. Opening graphic designed by Carrie Hawks.

 Note that this footage was originally shot on BetaCam SP videotape by James M. Fortier for the PBS documentary 'Alcatraz is Not An Island' and kindly donated to the TV Archive by Fortier in 2020.

Also see this interview that Littlefeather gave to The Guardian newspaper about her life in June 2021.