Oklahoma Social Studies USH.C.7.2.A
The Standard
- USH.C.7
- Analyze the cause and effects of significant domestic events and policies impacting the lives of American citizens.
- USH.C.7.2
- Examine how the Civil Rights Movement intersected with various other movements for individual rights and liberties.
Describe the goals of American Indian civil rights efforts by evaluating the strategies of the American Indian Movement and the leadership of Dennis Banks (e.g., occupations of Wounded Knee and Alcatraz) in response to federal mismanagement of Native affairs.
Oklahoma Academic Standards for Social Studies (2026) · USH.C.7.2
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students explain why Native activists called for treaty rights, tribal self-government, and changes in federal handling of Native affairs. They compare the Alcatraz occupation, organized by Indians of All Tribes, with AIM's role at Wounded Knee and Dennis Banks's leadership there. They judge what occupying each site could achieve.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can name who organized each occupation without placing Dennis Banks at the head of Alcatraz. They can use a detail from each protest to explain a shared goal and a strength or limit of occupation as a strategy.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may say AIM or Dennis Banks led the Alcatraz occupation. They may confuse the 1973 Wounded Knee occupation with the 1890 massacre. Some think the protests were only about land, missing treaty rights and tribal self-government.
How to Assess It
- Put these facts on an exit ticket: Indians of All Tribes occupied Alcatraz; AIM leaders, including Dennis Banks, occupied Wounded Knee. Ask students to name one shared goal and explain one strength or limit of occupying a site.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs cards labeled Alcatraz, Wounded Knee, Indians of All Tribes, AIM, Dennis Banks, and treaty rights; have them draw and label accurate connections.
Ask: Why might activists occupy Alcatraz or Wounded Knee instead of writing to federal officials? Have students use one detail from either protest.
Run a fact-check relay: teams correct 'AIM organized Alcatraz' and 'Wounded Knee protesters only opposed their tribal chairman.'
Open the Cherokee Nation government website; have students compare its description of tribal self-government with a demand from the Alcatraz proclamation.
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Related Standards
- OKH.C.6.2
Examine government policies impacting American Indian identity, culture, economy, Tribal government, and sovereignty.
- USH.C.1.3.C
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- 6.C.5.1.C
Analyze the historical development of American Indian citizenship and constitutional rights in the United States of America, including the passage of the Indian...
- OKH.C.7.4
Describe the changing relations between the federal government and American Indian Nations as influenced by the Meriam Report and reflected in the Indian Reorga...
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