American Indian Movement

American Indian Movement

The American Indian Movement “AIM” was formally formed on July 28, 1968. The movement actually existed for 500 years before that without a name. AIM is merely a group of Indian people that choose to band together and wish to improve the conditions in a society in which Indian people have to live.

AIM was started by a group of men that had been living in an urban society. Most of them had done time in correctional institutions and were very bitter. They knew the frustrations of trying to exist in a society that would not accept them as human beings because they were Indian. They put together a movement to fix things that were happening in the cities to the Indians. In 1968, two hundred members of the Native American Community came together for a meeting to discuss various issues that Indian people of the time were dealing with on an everyday basis. AIM started and operated in Minneapolis, Minnesota for its first year. Soon thereafter, many Indians found out how and what the movement did for the American Indians. The word spread and soon there were chapters in other states.

The movement was founded to turn the attention of the Indian people toward a spiritual renewal. They needed to reverse the white man’s policies and corruption that had invaded the Indian beliefs and values, to bring back dignity and pride in a people. Before AIM in 1968, culture had been weakened in most Indian communities due to US policy, American boarding schools, and all the other efforts that tried to get rid of the Indian way of life.

The first National AIM conference took place in 1970 with 18 chapters. Since 1970 there were protests, walks, treaties, and wars. Some of the more significant events that happened from 1970 forward were:

• 1972 – Trail of Broken Treaties 20-Point Indian Manifesto - AIM brought a group of Native Nation representatives to Washington DC, the US Department of the Interior. They put 20 issues before President Richard Nixon....