Roger A. Finzel American Indian Movement Papers
Collection
Identifier: MSS-711-BC
Scope and Content
Although this collection spans the timeframe 1965-1995, the bulk of the material focuses on 1973-1979, the time, circumstances, and repercussions of the 1973 occupation of Wounded Knee, Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota by 300 Indians led by members of the Oglala Sioux Civil Rights Organization (OSCRO) and the American Indian Movement (AIM). The collection is divided into 4 overlapping series, specifically, American Indian Movement /Bureau of Indian Affairs (AIM/BIA), Wounded Knee and Its Aftermath, Native American Issues, and Publications.
The AIM/BIA series contains general background materials on the American Indian Movement and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Wounded Knee materials include court cases, legal documents, statements, correspondence, press materials, news clippings, papers, reports, poetry, artwork, etc. Documentation in this series details the Wounded Knee occupation and resultant events and issues, including legal matters pertaining to prominent AIM members Russell Means, Robert Robideau, Darrel Butler, Dennis Banks, and Leonard Peltier as well as documentation detailing the operations of FBI informant, Douglas Durham. Investigations into Pine Ridge Tribal elections, police assaults, allegations of gun running and Indian militancy, the death of Anna Mae Aquash are subjects included in this series. Text and reports of Senate Judiciary Committee hearings pertaining to AIM and the Wounded Knee Massacre are also contained in this series. Much of the material was accumulated or produced by the Wounded Knee Legal Defense/Offense Committee.
The Native American Issues series provides research materials on topics such as sovereignty, land, water, energy, human rights, education, health (including sterilization), racism, at the like. Reports, press releases, news clippings, articles, legal documents, and ephemera provide insight into the issues. Some materials relate specifically to Navajo, Akwesasne Mohawk, and Menominee tribes. This series contains materials produced by the Native American Solidarity Committee, International Indian Treaty Council, July 4th Coalition, and National Indian Youth Council.
The Publications series contains scattered issues of a variety of Native American related publications, including Americans Before Columbus, Big Mountain News, Black Hills Paha Sapa Report, Oyate News, Spirit of the People, Tribal Peoples Survival. The particular issues in this collection pertain to subjects in the previous series.
The collection was generally kept in original order using original folder names where possible.
The AIM/BIA series contains general background materials on the American Indian Movement and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Wounded Knee materials include court cases, legal documents, statements, correspondence, press materials, news clippings, papers, reports, poetry, artwork, etc. Documentation in this series details the Wounded Knee occupation and resultant events and issues, including legal matters pertaining to prominent AIM members Russell Means, Robert Robideau, Darrel Butler, Dennis Banks, and Leonard Peltier as well as documentation detailing the operations of FBI informant, Douglas Durham. Investigations into Pine Ridge Tribal elections, police assaults, allegations of gun running and Indian militancy, the death of Anna Mae Aquash are subjects included in this series. Text and reports of Senate Judiciary Committee hearings pertaining to AIM and the Wounded Knee Massacre are also contained in this series. Much of the material was accumulated or produced by the Wounded Knee Legal Defense/Offense Committee.
The Native American Issues series provides research materials on topics such as sovereignty, land, water, energy, human rights, education, health (including sterilization), racism, at the like. Reports, press releases, news clippings, articles, legal documents, and ephemera provide insight into the issues. Some materials relate specifically to Navajo, Akwesasne Mohawk, and Menominee tribes. This series contains materials produced by the Native American Solidarity Committee, International Indian Treaty Council, July 4th Coalition, and National Indian Youth Council.
The Publications series contains scattered issues of a variety of Native American related publications, including Americans Before Columbus, Big Mountain News, Black Hills Paha Sapa Report, Oyate News, Spirit of the People, Tribal Peoples Survival. The particular issues in this collection pertain to subjects in the previous series.
The collection was generally kept in original order using original folder names where possible.
Dates
- 1965-1995 (bulk 1973-1979)
Creator
- Finzel, Roger A. (Person)
Language of Materials
English.
Access Restrictions
The collection is open for research.
Copy Restrictions
Limited duplication of CSWR material is allowed for research purposes. User is responsible for compliance with all copyright, privacy and libel laws. Permission is required for publication or distribution.
Biographical Information
As members of the National Lawyers Guild, the legal arm of progressive movements since 1937, Roger Finzel and Eda Gordon volunteered to join the Wounded Knee Legal Defense/Offense Committee, formed after the 1973 liberation of the Wounded Knee Massacre site on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Finzel, a Washington, D.C. attorney, served as a staff attorney for the Defense Committee, representing some of the 375 people charged with federal crimes arising from that struggle. Gordon, a former editor of Trial Magazine, published by the American Trial Lawyers Association, served first as the committee's press liaison and later as an investigator of Wounded Knee cases. As press liaison, she worked with international, national, and local press, prepared press releases, published the committee newsletter, and developed public education materials about the pending Wounded Knee cases and the reign of terror on the reservation under the brutal regime of tribal chairman Dick Wilson.
After being assaulted by Wilson's goon squad, Finzel and Gordon moved to Washington, D.C., where they continued support work on behalf of traditional Native American peoples and their support groups (Committee on Native American Struggles (CONAS), Native American Solidarity Committee (NASC), Leonard Peltier Defense Committee (LPDC), to name a few). It was through their lobbying efforts that the first meeting in modern times was arranged between Lakota traditional chiefs and the President of the United States, then Gerald Ford. They were also part of a team that prepared the first report to the Working Group on Indigenous Peoples of the United Nations.
In 1977, Finzel and Gordon moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Finzel worked as a staff attorney for the National Indian Youth Council, representing the traditional Choctaw/Chickasaw Tribal Councils seeking to maintain their traditional governmental structure. While carrying over her support work from Washington, Gordon focused on violations of sovereignty by energy exploitation of native lands in New Mexico and the West. With the National Lawyers Guild, they helped investigate and write a comprehensive report exposing energy exploitation of native lands in the southwest.
Finzel became a volunteer counsel to American Indians Against Desecration (AIAD). This organization was formed from a request by religious leaders at an International Indian Treaty Council meeting. From the late 1970s through the early 1990s they agitated, met, organized, sued, etc. to repatriate the remains of the ancestors stored in museums and laboratories around the world. As counsel for AIAD, Finzel was one of the lawyers in the Yellow Thunder Camp case in South Dakota, seeking to use a few acres of the sacred Black Hills for a traditional Indian religious camp.
Finzel is now a Federal Public Defender in Albuquerque. Gordon is a private investigator and trial consultant working out of Santa Fe.
After being assaulted by Wilson's goon squad, Finzel and Gordon moved to Washington, D.C., where they continued support work on behalf of traditional Native American peoples and their support groups (Committee on Native American Struggles (CONAS), Native American Solidarity Committee (NASC), Leonard Peltier Defense Committee (LPDC), to name a few). It was through their lobbying efforts that the first meeting in modern times was arranged between Lakota traditional chiefs and the President of the United States, then Gerald Ford. They were also part of a team that prepared the first report to the Working Group on Indigenous Peoples of the United Nations.
In 1977, Finzel and Gordon moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Finzel worked as a staff attorney for the National Indian Youth Council, representing the traditional Choctaw/Chickasaw Tribal Councils seeking to maintain their traditional governmental structure. While carrying over her support work from Washington, Gordon focused on violations of sovereignty by energy exploitation of native lands in New Mexico and the West. With the National Lawyers Guild, they helped investigate and write a comprehensive report exposing energy exploitation of native lands in the southwest.
Finzel became a volunteer counsel to American Indians Against Desecration (AIAD). This organization was formed from a request by religious leaders at an International Indian Treaty Council meeting. From the late 1970s through the early 1990s they agitated, met, organized, sued, etc. to repatriate the remains of the ancestors stored in museums and laboratories around the world. As counsel for AIAD, Finzel was one of the lawyers in the Yellow Thunder Camp case in South Dakota, seeking to use a few acres of the sacred Black Hills for a traditional Indian religious camp.
Finzel is now a Federal Public Defender in Albuquerque. Gordon is a private investigator and trial consultant working out of Santa Fe.
Extent
4 boxes (3.25 cu. ft.)
Abstract
This collection documents activities of the American Indian Movement (AIM), including the takeover of Wounded Knee, Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota by AIM. Also documented are the circumstances underlying the takeover, the aftermath, and individual court cases associated with Wounded Knee and the American Indian Movement. Materials relevant to Native American issues such as sovereignty, land, water, resources, health and education are also included in the collection.
Separated Material
Photographs have been transferred to Roger A. Finzel Photograph Collection.
Original audiocassettes stored in B3.
Original audiocassettes stored in B3.
- American Indian Movement
- Aquash, Anna Mae, 1945-1976
- Durham, Douglas
- Energy development--Navajo Indian Reservation
- Gordon, Eda
- Government, Resistance to--United States.
- Indians of North America -- Civil rights
- Indians of North America -- Government relations
- Indians of North America--Ethnic identity
- Indians of North America--Land tenure
- Means, Russell, 1939-2012
- Oglala Indians--Pine Ridge Indian Reservation (S.D.)
- Peltier, Leonard
- Pine Ridge Indian Reservation (S.D.)
- Political persecution--Pine Ridge Indian Reservation (S.D.)
- Robideau, Robert E.
- United States. Bureau of Indian Affairs
- Wounded Knee (S.D.) -- History -- Indian occupation, 1973
- Wounded Knee Legal Defense/Offense Committee
Creator
- Finzel, Roger A. (Person)
- Title
- Finding Aid of the Roger A. Finzel American Indian Movement Papers, 1965-1995 (bulk 1973-1979)
- Status
- Approved
- Author
- Processed by Dennis P. Trujillo
- Date
- ©2004
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid is in English
Revision Statements
- June 28, 2004: PUBLIC "-//University of New Mexico::Center for Southwest Research//TEXT (US::NmU::MSS 711 BC::Roger A. Finzel American Indian Movement Papers)//EN" "nmu1mss711bc.sgml" converted from EAD 1.0 to 2002 by v1to02.xsl (sy2003-10-15).
- Monday, 20210524: Attribute normal is missing or blank.
Repository Details
Part of the UNM Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections Repository
Contact:
University of New Mexico Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections
University Libraries, MSC05 3020
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque NM 87131
505-277-6451
University of New Mexico Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections
University Libraries, MSC05 3020
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque NM 87131
505-277-6451