Heart of the Rock: the Indian Invasion of Alcatraz.

• Author: Kreyche, Gerald F.

BY ADAM FORTUNATE EAGLE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA PRESS 2002, 215 PAGES, $29.95

In November, 1969, a half-comic, half-serious Indian invasion of Alcatraz Island, home of the closed notorious prison, took place. The plot was hatched by Sioux and other Indians from the seedy sections of San Francisco, seemingly done as a lark, then becoming a serious effort to raise the consciousness of the nation as to the problems of Native Americans.

Additionally, it was a call to the Indians themselves to discover their identity. This movement, idealistic in its inception, sought a kind of solidarity among the various tribes involved.

Thinking big, they planned to take over Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty as well. The ill-conceived Alcatraz venture was a classic example of having what could go wrong actually go wrong. Many who were supposed to show up for the invasion got cold feet and never came. Others were late, arriving on "Indian time." The first landing at Alcatraz took place on Nov. 9 and was comprised of 40 Indians, some in tribal regalia.

The caretaker-resident warden of Alcatraz scared them off, telling them in no uncertain terms that such an action could be regarded as a Federal crime. Countering this, a lawyer for the Indians claimed their right to the island, based on a Black Hills treaty made in 1868, which vaguely seemed to indicate that Indians could have government surplus, no longer of use to the U.S. (The abandonment of Alcatraz as a prison provided some hair-splitting reasonableness about the claim.) This didn't pass muster, however, but in the dead of night of Nov. 19, the Indians came again to claim the Rock, this time in force with 92 adults and two children. There was hardly any planning for this takeover, and the goals were unclear, with little thought given to logistics. Some of the invaders brought sandwiches and sleeping bags, but most were unprepared for the cold, dank, windy, foggy weather that almost is a constant off Alcatraz.

A writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, Tim Findley, pushed the Indian cause, but eventually became disenchanted, saying the invasion simply exhibited "booze, bickering, and boredom." Yet, he...