going back in time, there have been many laws prohibiting Native Americans from accessing the same rights as other racial groups. For example, the allotment act. This act divided tribal lands into individual plots to assimilate Native Americans into mainstream society by making them individual landowners instead of tribe run organizations. This created a large loss of tribal land and large loss of life

American Indians experienced De Facto discrimination in their everyday lives, impacting education, housing, and employment discrimination, even though the legal segregation was abolished. This occurred due to years of cultural and educational discrimination, which led to the displacement of American Indians. Media portrayals created a lack of welcoming attitudes from communities, which led to hard access to education, employment, and housing.

Going back in time, when the American Indian movement was first being formed, There was a huge protests by a different group of native american peoples who took over alcatraz island in san francisco after it was discontinued and abandoned. They were able to do this because of a treaty that said any abandoned or out of use federally owned land was legally property of the Native American population. This occupation lasted for 19 grueling months with no power or running water and very limited supplies because of a government blockade that was attempting to force them out. Eventually a 13-year old girl died because of the harsh conditions, causing the family of the girl to leave the island which started the ripple effect leading to the complete retreat of Alcatraz island. While the American Indian movement was not involved in the occupation of Alcatraz, it inspired them and was one of the main driving points that made the organization so strong.