Object Details
- Artist
- Unidentified Artist
- Sitter
- Dennis Banks, 12 Apr 1937 - 29 Oct 2017
- Russell Means, 10 Nov 1939 - 22 Oct 2012
- 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”.
- Credit Line
- National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Frank and Betsy Goodyear
- 1973
- Object number
- NPG.2005.32
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- 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")
- Place
- United States\South Dakota\Shannon\Wounded Knee
- See more items in
- National Portrait Gallery Collection
- Location
- Currently not on view
- National Portrait Gallery
- 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: Arts and Culture\Visual Arts\Artist
- Russell Means: Male
- Russell Means: Arts and Culture\Literature\Writer
- Russell Means: Arts and Culture\Performing Arts\Actor
- Russell Means: Social Welfare and Reform\Reformer\Activist
- Dennis Banks: Male
- Dennis Banks: Arts and Culture\Performing Arts\Actor
- Dennis Banks: Social Welfare and Reform\Reformer\Activist
- Portrait
- Record ID
- npg_NPG.2005.32
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sm485a9cb5f-a749-4f03-a867-53e0673f0056
