1. March 8, 1964: small group of Sioux demonstrated by occupying the island for four hours (40 people, including photographers, reporters and Elliot Leighton, the lawyer representing those claiming land stakes)
2. The protesters left under threat that they would be charged with felony. This incident resulted in increased media attention for indigenous peoples' protests across the Bay Area.
3. A desire for more immediate action to claim space for the local Indian community was finally spurred by the loss of the San Francisco Indian Center to fire on October 10, 1969.
1. This detrimental loss happening on top of the Indians’ already growing tension with the U.S. government prompted strategies for obtaining Alcatraz for use by the local Indian community shifted from formal applications to more immediate takeover.
4. 1969: Adam Fortunate Eagle planned a symbolic occupation for November 9.
1. 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.
2. A group of five boats were organized to take approximately 75 indigenous peoples over to the island