Richard Oakes Accomplishments

Imagine that you are a man that helped create some crucial programs and led some huge events that would make a mark in history. That revolutionary man was Richard Oakes. Richard Oakes was soon to become a dedicated, brave, important Native American activist. To understand just how important Richard Oakes was to Native Americans, you must know about his early life, his accomplishments as an activist, and his death. To begin with, Richard Oakes lived a very busy early life. As a child Oakes lived in Akwesasne, New York and was part of the Mohawk Tribe (Root). He spent most of his childhood fishing and planting crops. When Oakes was 16, he left school to become a construction worker and he soon found work as clockmaker and a steelworker (Aljazeera News). He then attended Adirondack Community College and Syracuse University (Root). Soon after that, he got married and had a son, divorcing before moving to San Francisco (Aljazeera News). Then when he was 18, he moved to San Francisco and enrolled at San Francisco University. He later helped develop the first Native American Studies Department (Root). Richard Oakes booming early life led to his incredible achievements …show more content…
Oakes is best known for the occupation of Alcatraz. He led over 80 college students to take over Alcatraz on November 20,1969 to protest poor treatment of Indians (Root). When the boats were stopped, Oakes swam to the island (Worley). In June 1971, the government removed the remaining 15 occupants from the island (Aljazeera News). Then in 1975, the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act was passed. This allowed federal agencies to work with recognized Native American Tribes (Worley). Oakes became a champion of social justice for native americans and in 1969 he led a series of protests (Aljazeera News). Richard Oakes amazing accomplishments sadly led to his unexpected