Setting a New Course in Native American Protest Movements: The Menominee Warrior Society’s Takeover of the Alexian Brothers Novitiate in 1975

Abstract

In the 1960s and 1970s, the United States experienced multiple Native American protest movements. These movements came from two different methods of protest: direct action, or grassroots tactics, and long-term political strategies. The first method, grassroots tactics, was exemplified by groups such as the American Indian Movement and the Menominee Warrior Society. The occupations of Alcatraz Wounded Knee and the BIA, as well as the takeover of the Alexian Brothers Novitiate, all represented the use of grassroots tactics. The second method of protest was that of peaceful change through legislation, or political strategies. The D.R.U.M.S. movement, the Menominee Restoration Committee and the political activism of Ada Deer all represented the use of political strategies. The conflict between these two methods of protest was exemplified by the takeover of the Alexian Brothers Novitiate in 1975, which shaped the future of Native American protest movements, enabling both types of protest movements to work together and created situations in which both protest movement methods complemented each other to achieve a common goal. This paper examines two different types of Native American protest movements and how they collided in the takeover of the Alexian Brothers Novitiate. Research was done using a variety of primary and secondary sources. These sources mostly focused on the takeover of the Novitiate, but also touched on other native American movements that exemplified both grassroots tactics and political strategies. This project seeks to provide insights into the transformation of Native American Protest Movements in the twentieth century.