Before Indian self-determination became federal law, a cohort of angry and disillusioned Native college students, including a young Ponca student named Clyde Warrior, helped lay the foundation for the Red Power movement and inspire the American Indian Movement. Warrior became a pivotal co-founder of the National Indian Youth Council (NIYC), an activist group that protested federal termination policies and rejected assimilation and government paternalism. He and other members participated in the March on Washington and the fish-ins in the Pacific Northwest, and met with U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, D-New York, to discuss Native education. Through fiery speeches, Warrior inspired Dennis Banks and others to become activists and take pride in their Native identity. We’ll talk about the late Clyde Warrior and the groundwork laid by NIYC.

GUESTS

Della Warrior (Otoe-Missouria), former chairperson of the Otoe-Missouria Tribe, president and CEO of the Multi-Indigenous Community Action (MICA) Group, and the late wife to Clyde Warrior

Darius Lee Smith (Diné), executive director of the National Indian Youth Council

John Redhouse (Diné and Ute), longtime Native American activist