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Artist
Unidentified Artist
Sitter
Dennis Banks, 12 Apr 1937 - 29 Oct 2017
Russell Means, 10 Nov 1939 - 22 Oct 2012
Date
1973
Type
Photograph
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
Image: 22.1 × 15.4 cm (8 11/16 × 6 1/16")
Sheet: 23.3 × 17.7 cm (9 3/16 × 6 15/16")
Mat: 45.7 × 35.6 cm (18 × 14")
Topic
Exterior
Costume\Jewelry\Ring
Equipment\Smoking Implements\Pipe
Equipment\Smoking Implements\Pipe
Costume\Headgear\Hat\Cap\Beret
Costume\Jewelry\Watch\Wrist watch
Russell Means: Visual Arts\Artist
Russell Means: Male
Russell Means: Literature\Writer
Russell Means: Performing Arts\Performer\Actor
Russell Means: Society and Social Change\Reformer\Activist
Dennis Banks: Male
Dennis Banks: Performing Arts\Performer\Actor
Dennis Banks: Society and Social Change\Reformer\Activist
Portrait
Place
United States\South Dakota\Shannon\Wounded Knee
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Frank and Betsy Goodyear
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Object number
NPG.2005.32
Exhibition Label
Dennis Banks (Ojibwe, left) and Russell Means (Oglala Lakota, right) were activists and leaders of the Minnesota-based American Indian Movement (AIM, founded 1968), who fought for Native sovereignty. This photograph shows them during AIM’s armed occupation of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, in 1973. Among other demands, they called on the federal government to honor broken treaties.
Means connected the struggle for Native sovereignty with environmental justice. In 1996, he wrote, “[The Earth] is our Mother, and it’s our right and duty to protect her. . . . It is our desire to defend our communities and our Mother that makes sovereignty guaranteed by treaties the number one demand of indigenous people. . . . Our right is to have a clean environment on land that we control, where we can hunt, and fish, and gather foods and medicines without fearing that they are too polluted with toxins for us to eat or use.”
Dennis Banks (ojibwe, izquierda) y Russell Means (oglala lakota, derecha) fueron activistas y líderes del Movimiento Indígena Americano (AIM, fundado en Minnesota en 1968) y lucharon por la soberanía nativa. Esta fotografía los muestra durante la ocupa ción armada de AIM en Wounded Knee, Dakota del Sur, en 1973. Entre otras cosas, exigían que el gobier no federal honrara los tratados que había infringido.
Means vinculó la lucha por la soberanía nativa con la justicia ambiental. En 1996 escribió: “[La Tierra] es nuestra Madre, y tenemos el derecho y el deber de protegerla. … El deseo de defender a nuestras comunidades y a nuestra Madre implica que el principal reclamo de los pueblos indígenas sea la soberanía que garantizan los tratados. [...] Tenemos derecho a un ambiente limpio en una tierra que nosotros controlemos, donde podamos cazar, pescar y recoger alimentos y medicinas sin temer que estén contaminados con toxinas”.
