<P> In 1969, Adam Fortunate Eagle planned a symbolic occupation for November 9 . University student leaders Mohawk Richard Oakes and Shoshone Bannock LaNada Means, head of the Native American Student Organization at the University of California, Berkeley, with a larger group of student activists joined Fortunate Eagle . A group of five boats was organized to take approximately 75 indigenous peoples over to the island, but none of the boats showed up . Adam Fortunate Eagle convinced Ronald Craig, the owner of the Monte Cristo, a three - masted yacht, to pass by the island when their own boats did not arrive . Oakes, Jim Vaughn (Cherokee), Joe Bill (Eskimo), Ross Harden (Ho - Chunk) and Jerry Hatch jumped overboard, swam to shore, and claimed the island by right of discovery . The Coast Guard quickly removed the men, but later that day, a larger group made their way to the island again, and fourteen stayed overnight . The following day, Oakes delivered a proclamation, written by Fortunate Eagle, to the General Services Administration (GSA) which claimed the island by right of discovery, after which the group left the island . </P> <P> Though recently many people have claimed that the American Indian Movement was somehow involved in the Takeover, AIM had nothing to do with the planning and execution of the Occupation, though they did send a delegation to Alcatraz in the early months in order to find out how the operation was accomplished and how things were progressing . </P> <P> In the early morning hours of November 20, 1969, 89 American Indians, including over 30 women, students, married couples and six children, set out to occupy Alcatraz Island . A partially successful Coast Guard blockade prevented most of them from landing, but fourteen protesters landed on the island to begin their occupation . </P> <P> At the height of the occupation there were 400 people . Native and non-native people brought food and other necessary items to the people on the island, but the coast guard's blockades made it increasingly difficult to supply the occupants with food . The suppliers, after stealthily journeying across the bay via canoe, dropped off the supplies which then had to be carried up steep ladders . The occupation lasted about 19 months but ended peacefully . An employee of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Doris Purdy, who was also an amateur photographer, accompanied a group who went on November 29, stayed the night and made a movie, which is available on YouTube . </P>

Who occupied alcatraz an abandoned federal prison in 1969