Annie Mae Aquash (Mi'kmaq name ''Naguset Eask'') (March 27, 1945 – mid-December 1975 ) was a

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

activist and Mi'kmaq tribal member from Nova Scotia, Canada. Aquash moved to Boston in the 1960s and joined other

and Indigenous Americans focused on education and resistance, and

police brutality Police brutality is the excessive and unwarranted use of force by law enforcement against an individual or a group. It is an extreme form of police misconduct and is a civil rights violation. Police brutality includes, but is not limited to, ...

against urban Indigenous peoples. She was part of the

American Indian Movement The American Indian Movement (AIM) is a Native American grassroots movement which was founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota in July 1968, initially centered in urban areas in order to address systemic issues of poverty, discrimination, and police ...

, participated in several occupations, and participated in the 1973

Wounded Knee incident The Wounded Knee Occupation, also known as Second Wounded Knee, began on February 27, 1973, when approximately 200 Oglala Lakota (sometimes referred to as Oglala Sioux) and followers of the American Indian Movement (AIM) seized and occupied ...

at the

Pine Ridge Indian Reservation The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation ( lkt, Wazí Aháŋhaŋ Oyáŋke), also called Pine Ridge Agency, is an Oglala Lakota Indian reservation located entirely within the U.S. state of South Dakota. Originally included within the territory of the Gr ...

, United States. Aquash also participated in the 1972

Trail of Broken Treaties The Trail of Broken Treaties (also known as the Trail of Broken Treaties Caravan and the Pan American Native Quest for Justice) was a 1972 cross-country caravan of American Indian and First Nations organizations that started on the West Coast of ...

and occupation of the Department of Interior headquarters in Washington, DC. In the following years, Aquash was active in protests to draw positive government action and acknowledgement of First Nations and Native American civil rights in Canada and Wisconsin. After Aquash disappeared in late December 1975, there were rumors she had been killed. An FBI report by Special Agent David Price states an informant saw Aquash alive on February 12, 1976. On February 24, Aquash's body was found in Wanblee on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota; she initially was determined to have died from exposure by a Bureau of Indian Affairs medical examiner, but after a second autopsy two weeks later, was found to have been murdered by an execution-style gunshot wound to the head. Initially, her death was covered up and the body declared to be "unidentifiable". Aquash's corpse was photographed by FBI agent Price. As detailed in ''

In the Spirit of Crazy Horse ''In the Spirit of Crazy Horse'' is a book by Peter Matthiessen which chronicles "the story of Leonard Peltier and the FBI's war on the American Indian Movement." It was first published in 1983. Leonard Peltier was convicted of murder in 1977 and ...

'', the FBI and CIA had previously disseminated rumours that she had been an informant. During the trial of John Graham, Candy Hamilton testified that Aquash told her that agent Price had threatened that "he would see that she died" if she didn't cooperate with his investigation of the Pine Ridge shootings of two FBI agents.

Leonard Peltier Leonard Peltier (born September 12, 1944) is a Native American activist and militant member of the American Indian Movement (AIM) who, following a controversial trial, was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of two Fed ...

since stated, "I must remind you, it is court record that the FBI lied to extradite me back to the US. I know that their behavior hasn't changed just as I know that Anna Mae was not an informant." Aquash was thirty years old at the time of her death and had two young daughters, Debbie and Denise. After decades of investigation and the hearing of testimony by three federal grand juries, in March 2003,

Arlo Looking Cloud Arlo Looking Cloud (born Fritz Arlo Looking Cloud; March 25, 1954) is a former Native American activist. He is perhaps best known for his involvement with the murder of fellow American Indian Movement activist Anna Mae Aquash. Early life Lookin ...

and John Graham (also known as John Boy Patton) were indicted for the murder of Aquash. Looking Cloud was convicted in 2004 and Graham in 2010; both received life sentences. Thelma Rios was indicted along with John Graham, but she pleaded guilty to charges as an accessory to the kidnapping. In 2008 Vine Richard "Dick" Marshall was charged with aiding the murder, but was acquitted of providing the gun. Numerous Aquash supporters and her daughters believe that higher-level AIM officials ordered her murder, fearing she was an

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...

informant.

Early life and education

Annie Mae Pictou was born into the

Mi'kmaq The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Miꞌkmaw'' or ''Miꞌgmaw''; ; ) are a First Nations people of the Northeastern Woodlands, indigenous to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec as well as the northe ...

First Nation at Indian Brook Reserve in Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia. Her mother was Mary Ellen Pictou and her father Francis Thomas Levi. She had two older sisters, Mary and Becky Pictou, and a younger brother Francis. Her mother and sisters survived her death. Pictou and her siblings received their early educations on the reserve but had struggled with poverty throughout their early lives. At the age of eight, Pictou had tuberculosis in the eyes and lungs.

Marriage and family

In 1962, Pictou and James Maloney moved together from the reserve to Boston. They had two daughters together, Denise, born in 1964, and Debbie, born in September 1965. They married that year, but divorced in mid-1970 after Pictou found Maloney was having an affair. Pictou later married Nogeeshik Aquash, an

Ojibwa The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains. According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...

activist, in a Native ceremony. She kept his last name after they separated.

Activism

In Boston, Pictou began to meet urban American Indians and other First Nations people from Canada. About 1968–1969, she met members of the

(AIM), founded in Minneapolis in 1968, who were organizing among urban Indians, initially to combat police brutality. Pictou became involved in the Teaching and Research in Bicultural Education School Project (TRIBES), a program in Bar Harbor, Maine to teach young American Indians about their history. On Thanksgiving Day 1970, AIM activists in Boston held a major protest against the ''

Mayflower II ''Mayflower II'' is a reproduction of the 17th-century ship ''Mayflower'', celebrated for transporting the Pilgrims to the New World in 1620. "Press Kit - Mayflower X" (with history of the ''Mayflower''), Plimoth Plantation Museum, 20 ...

'' celebration at the harbor by boarding and seizing the ship. Pictou helped create the Boston Indian Council (now the

North American Indian Center of Boston The North American Indian Center of Boston, Inc. (NAICOB) is a nonprofit organization located in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, a neighborhood of Boston, which provides assistance to American Indians, Native Canadians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawa ...

), to work to improve conditions for Indians in the city. In 1972 Pictou participated in the

march of American Indian activists to Washington, D.C. Protesters occupied the

Bureau of Indian Affairs The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States federal agency within the Department of the Interior. It is responsible for implementing federal laws and policies related to American Indians and A ...

national headquarters and presented a list of 20 demands to the government, 12 of them dealing with treaty issues. In Boston, Pictou met Nogeeshik Aquash, from Walpole Island, Canada, and they began a relationship. In 1973 Nogeeshik and Anna Mae traveled together to the

in South Dakota to join AIM activists and

Oglala Lakota The Oglala (pronounced , meaning "to scatter one's own" in Lakota language) are one of the seven subtribes of the Lakota people who, along with the Dakota people, Dakota, make up the Sioux, Očhéthi Šakówiŋ (Seven Council Fires). A majority ...

in what developed as the 71-day occupation of Wounded Knee. They were married there in a Native ceremony by

Wallace Black Elk Wallace may refer to: People * Clan Wallace in Scotland * Wallace (given name) * Wallace (surname) * Wallace (footballer, born 1986), full name Wallace Fernando Pereira, Brazilian football left-back * Wallace (footballer, born 1987), full name W ...

, a Lakota elder. Anna Mae took Aquash as her surname, keeping it after they later separated. Using the surname Aquash, in 1974 Annie Mae was based mostly in Minneapolis. She worked on the Red Schoolhouse project, for a culturally based school for the numerous American Indian students who lived in the city. That year she also participated in the armed occupation at Anicinabe Park in Kenora, Ontario by

Ojibwe The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains. According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...

activists and AIM supporters. They were protesting treatment of the Ojibwe in Kenora and northwestern Ontario in relation to health, police harassment, education and other issues, and failures by the national government's Office of Indian Affairs to improve conditions. Aquash also continued to work for the Elders and Lakota People of the

. In January 1975, Aquash worked with the

Menominee The Menominee (; mez, omǣqnomenēwak meaning ''"Menominee People"'', also spelled Menomini, derived from the Ojibwe language word for "Wild Rice People"; known as ''Mamaceqtaw'', "the people", in the Menominee language) are a federally recog ...

Warriors Society in the month-long armed occupation of the Alexian Brothers Novitiate at Gresham, Wisconsin.Johanna Brand, ''The Life and Death of Anna Mae Aquash''
Toronto: James Lorimer (1993), pp. 104–105, accessed July 18, 2011 The Catholic abbey had been closed and abandoned, and the Menominee wanted the property returned to the tribe, as the land had originally been appropriated by the Alexian Brothers for their mission. That year, Aquash was arrested twice on federal weapons-related charges, but was quickly released. Her second release was shortly before she was assassinated. Aquash's releases from jail heightened internal AIM suspicions, created by a disinformation campaign that Aquash might be a government informant.
, AP, at ''News From Indian Country'', November 4, 1999, accessed July 17, 2011 Leaders were nervous since they had discovered in late 1974 that

Douglas Durham Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals *Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking *Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil W ...

, a prominent member who by then had been appointed as head of security for AIM, was an FBI informant. Aquash had denounced Durham. The officials expelled him from AIM in February 1975 at a public press conference. According to biographer Johanna Brand, by the spring of 1975 Aquash was "recognized and respected as an organizer in her own right and was taking an increasing role in the decision-making of AIM policies and programs." She was close to AIM leaders

and

Dennis Banks Dennis Banks (April 12, 1937, in Ojibwe – October 29, 2017) was a Native American activist, teacher, and author. He was a longtime leader of the American Indian Movement, which he co-founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1968 to represent urb ...

. She and Banks had developed an intimate relationship beginning in the summer of 1974, although he was in a

common-law marriage Common-law marriage, also known as non-ceremonial marriage, marriage, informal marriage, or marriage by habit and repute, is a legal framework where a couple may be considered married without having formally registered their relation as a civil ...

with another woman.Deborah Kades, "Native Hero"
''Wisconsin Academy Review'' 2005, accessed June 9, 2011 When Banks went into hiding, Aquash and Darlene (Ka-Mook) Nichols joined him at various times in late 1975 as he along with Peltier and others moved throughout the West for several months in a R.V., lent by

Marlon Brando Marlon Brando Jr. (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004) was an American actor. Considered one of the most influential actors of the 20th century, he received numerous accolades throughout his career, which spanned six decades, including two Academ ...

, an AIM sympathizer. According to Ka-Mook Nichols, while camping in Washington in October 1975, Peltier bragged to her, Annie Mae and others about shooting the two FBI agents on June 26, 1975.Aquash Murder Case Timeline
by Paul DeMain, jfamr.org On November 14, 1975, while heading south through Oregon, a state trooper pulled over the R.V., full of guns and explosives, and ordered everybody out. Peltier and Banks escaped, but Kenny Loud Hawk, Russ Redner, Aquash, and others were taken to jail.Eric Konigsberg

nytimes.com, April 25, 2014 After having spent ten days in jail, Annie Mae Aquash was released on bail in Pierre, South Dakota on November 24. A couple of days later, she went to stay at the home of Troy Lynn Yellow Wood-Williams in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, Colorado. After having been seen in Denver and Rapid City, South Dakota for the last time on December 11, she disappeared in mid-December 1975.

Murder

On February 24, 1976, rancher Roger Amiotte found Aquash's body by the side of State Road 73 in the northeast corner of the reservation, about from Wanblee, South Dakota. Her remains were revealed when snow melted in February. An autopsy was conducted by medical practitioner W. O. Brown, who wrote: "it appears she had been dead for about 10 days," and she had "died from frost." Failing to notice a bullet wound at the base of her skull, Brown concluded that "she had died of exposure." Under FBI orders, according to ''

'', Aquash's hands were cut off and sent for fingerprinting to FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C. Since Aquash was not officially identified at the time, her body was buried in South Dakota as a "Jane Doe". On March 10, 1976, eight days after the burial, Aquash's remains were exhumed due to requests made by the American Indian Movement and her family. AIM arranged for a second autopsy to be conducted by Dr. Garry Peterson, a pathologist from Minneapolis. He found that she had been shot by a

.32 caliber .32 caliber is a size of ammunition, fitted to firearms with a bore diameter of . .32 in caliber variations include: * .32 ACP (Automatic Colt Pistol), a pistol cartridge * .32-40 Ballard, an American rifle cartridge * .32 H&R Magnum, a rimmed ...

bullet on the left side at the back of her head, under the hairline, in a shot that traveled upwards, missing the brain and lodging in her left eye socket. It was described as execution-style murder. She was reinterred in Oglala Lakota land. Rumors persisted that she had been killed by AIM as an informant, related to federal prosecution of activist

in the 1975 shooting deaths of FBI agents at Pine Ridge. ''In the Spirit of Crazy Horse'' further details the planting of the disinformation about Aquash by a CIA informant years before her murder. Aquash's murder was investigated by the

, who started the investigation as the death appeared to have taken place on the reservation. It was learned that she had been seen at the Pine Ridge Reservation before her disappearance in December 1975. Federal grand juries were called to hear testimony in her case in 1976, 1982 and 1994, but no indictments were made. In 1997 Paul DeMain, editor of the independent newspaper ''

News From Indian Country ''News From Indian Country'' is a privately owned newspaper, published once a month in the United States, founded by the journalist Paul DeMain (Ojibwe/Oneida) in 1986, who is the managing editor and an owner. It is the oldest continuing, nation ...

'', started regularly publishing articles about the investigation of the murder of Aquash.

People come forward

On November 3, 1999, Robert Pictou-Branscombe, a maternal cousin of Aquash from Canada, and

Russell Means Russell Charles Means (November 10, 1939 – October 22, 2012) was an Oglala Lakota activist for the rights of Native Americans, libertarian political activist, actor, musician, and writer. He became a prominent member of the American Ind ...

, associated with the Denver-based AIM movement, held a press conference in Denver at the Federal Building to discuss the slow progress of the investigation into Aquash's murder. It had been under investigation both by the FBI and the BIA. Earlier that day in a telephone interview with journalists Paul DeMain and Harlan McKosato, journalist Minnie Two Shoes commented about the importance of Aquash, Paul DeMain (Ojibwe/Oneida), publisher and editor of ''

News from Indian Country ''News From Indian Country'' is a privately owned newspaper, published once a month in the United States, founded by the journalist Paul DeMain (Ojibwe/Oneida) in 1986, who is the managing editor and an owner. It is the oldest continuing, nation ...

,'' said that day, In a January 2002 editorial in the ''News from Indian Country,'' DeMain said that he had met with several people who reported hearing

in 1975 admit the shootings of the two FBI agents on June 26, 1975, at the Pine Ridge Reservation. They also said that they believed the motive for the death of Aquash "allegedly was her knowledge of who shot the two BIagents, and Joe Stuntz." DeMain did not reveal his sources because of their personal danger in having spoken to him. In an editorial of March 2003, DeMain withdrew his support for clemency in the life sentence of Peltier. In response, Peltier sued DeMain for libel on May 1, 2003. On May 25, 2004, after

was convicted by the jury, Peltier withdrew the suit; he and DeMain reached a settlement.

Indictments and a co-conspirator

In January 2003, a fourth federal grand jury was called in Rapid City to hear testimony about the murder of Aquash. She was known to have been given a ride from the home of Troy Lynn Yellow Wood of Denver on December 10, 1975, by AIM members

, John Graham and

Theda Nelson Clarke Theda Nelson Clarke, born Theda Rose Nelson (1924-2011), was a Native American activist. She is perhaps best known for her involvement in the Wounded Knee incident with the murder of fellow American Indian Movement activist Anna Mae Aquash. ...

, who transported her to Rapid City. They took Aquash further to the Pine Ridge Reservation in mid-December. On March 20, 2003, a federal grand jury indicted Looking Cloud (an Oglala

Lakota Lakota may refer to: *Lakota people, a confederation of seven related Native American tribes *Lakota language, the language of the Lakota peoples Place names In the United States: *Lakota, Iowa *Lakota, North Dakota, seat of Nelson County *Lakota ...

) and Graham (aka John Boy Patton; a

Southern Tutchone The Southern Tutchone are a First Nations people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group living mainly in the southern Yukon in Canada. The Southern Tutchone language, traditionally spoken by the Southern Tutchone people, is a variety o ...

Athabascan Athabaskan (also spelled ''Athabascan'', ''Athapaskan'' or ''Athapascan'', and also known as Dene) is a large family of indigenous languages of North America, located in western North America in three areal language groups: Northern, Pacific Co ...

) from Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada for her murder. Although Clarke, Graham's adopted aunt, was alleged to have been involved, she was not indicted; by then, she was in failing health and being cared for in a nursing home. Bruce Ellison, who has been Leonard Peltier's lawyer since the 1970s, invoked his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination and refused to testify at the grand jury hearings on charges against Looking Cloud or at his trial in 2004. During the trial, the federal prosecutor referred to Ellison as a co-conspirator in the Aquash case.Paul DeMain, "Aquash Murder Case Timeline"
, NFIC, accessed June 8, 2011

Looking Cloud convicted

On February 8, 2004, the trial of

began before a U.S. federal jury; five days later he was found guilty of murder. On April 23, 2004, he was given a mandatory sentence of life in prison. Although no physical evidence linking Looking Cloud to the crime was presented, a videotape was shown in which he admitted to having been at the scene of the murder, but said he was not aware that Aquash was going to be killed. In that video, Looking Cloud was interviewed by Detective Abe Alonzo of the Denver Police Department and Robert Ecoffey, the Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Law Enforcement Services. On March 27, 2003, Looking Cloud said that John Graham was the gunman."Interview With Fritz Arlo Looking Cloud, March 27, 2003"
, Justice for Anna Mae and Ray Looking Cloud said that he was making his statement while high and under the influence of "a little bit of alcohol." Trial testimony showed that Looking Cloud told a number of other individuals in various times and places about having been present at the murder of Aquash. Looking Cloud appealed his conviction. In the appeal, filed by attorney Terry Gilbert, who replaced his trial attorney Tim Rensch, Looking Cloud retracted his videotaped confession, saying that it was false. He appealed based on the grounds that his trial counsel Rensch was ineffective in failing to object to the introduction of the videotaped statement, that he failed to object to hearsay statements of Anna Mae Aquash, failed to object to hearsay instruction for the jury, and failed to object to leading questions by the prosecution to Robert Ecoffey. The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit denied Looking Cloud's appeal. On August 19, 2005, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed the judgment of conviction. Richard Two Elk, adopted brother of Looking Cloud; Troy Lynn Yellow Wood, former AIM chairman

John Trudell John Trudell (February 15, 1946December 8, 2015) was a Native American author, poet, actor, musician, and political activist. He was the spokesperson for the Indians of All Tribes' takeover of Alcatraz beginning in 1969, broadcasting as ''Radi ...

, and Aquash's daughters Denise and Debbie Maloney were other witnesses who testified at the trial that Looking Cloud had separately confessed his involvement to them before any indictments or arrests.Witness statements
, Justice For Anna Mae and Ray

Extradition of Graham

On June 22, 2006, Canada's Minister of Justice,

Vic Toews Victor Toews (; born September 10, 1952) is a Paraguayan-Canadian politician and jurist. Toews is a judge of the Court of King's Bench of Manitoba. He represented Provencher in the House of Commons of Canada from 2000 until his resignation on Ju ...

, ordered the extradition of John Graham to the United States to face charges on his alleged involvement in the murder of Aquash. Graham appealed the order and was held under house arrest with conditions. In July 2007, a Canadian court denied his appeal, and upheld the extradition order. On December 6, 2007, the Supreme Court of Canada denied Graham's second appeal of his extradition. In an interview, recorded in the studios of Pacifica Radio

KPFK KPFK (90.7 FM) is a listener-sponsored radio station based in North Hollywood, California, United States, which serves Southern California, and also streams 24 hours a day via the Internet. It was the second of five stations in the non-commerci ...

, Los Angeles March 30, 2004, when being asked by Antoinette Nora Claypoole about the last time he saw Annie Mae Aquash, Graham replied: "Last time when we drove from Denver to Pine Ridge, and you know that ride there going to Pine Ridge, and talking with her, gearing up. And then gettin to a safe house."

Richard Marshall

In August 2008, a federal grand jury indicted Vine Richard "Dick" Marshall with aiding and abetting the murder. Marshall was a bodyguard for

at the time of Aquash's murder. It was alleged that Graham, Looking Cloud, and

had taken Aquash to Marshall's house, where they held her, then took her to be executed in a far corner of the reservation. Marshall's wife, Cleo Gates, testified to this at Looking Cloud's trial. Marshall is alleged to have provided the murder weapon to Graham and Looking Cloud. Marshall was imprisoned in 1976 after being convicted in the 1975 shooting death of a man. He was paroled from prison in 2000. He was acquitted of the charge of conspiracy to murder Anna Mae.

State trial for Graham and Rios

In September 2009, Graham and Thelma Rios, a Lakota advocate in Rapid City, were charged by the State Court of South Dakota with the kidnapping, rape and murder of Anna Mae. The case against the defendants continued through much of 2010.

Thelma Rios

Thelma Conroy-Rios Thelma Conroy-Rios was a Native American activist. She is perhaps best known for her involvement in the Wounded Knee incident and for her involvement in the murder of fellow American Indian Movement activist Anna Mae Aquash. Personal life Be ...

, a longtime Lakota advocate in Rapid City, South Dakota was charged by the state of South Dakota in September 2009, along with John Graham, for the kidnapping, rape and murder of Aquash. Already in poor health, she avoided a trial on murder charges by agreeing to a plea bargain "that acknowledged her role in the events leading up to Aquash's death." In November 2010, she pleaded guilty to the charge of being an accessory to kidnapping and received a five-year sentence, most of which was suspended due to her poor health. Rios admitted in court that she "relayed a message from AIM leadership to other AIM members to bring Aquash from Denver to Rapid City in December 1975, because they thought she was a government informant."AP, "Woman convicted in AIM slaying dies of lung cancer"
February 14, 2011, accessed June 13, 2011 Rios died of lung cancer February 9, 2011.
''Rapid City Journal'', February 11, 2011, accessed June 9, 2011 Although names were redacted in her plea agreement at court, she had said she heard two people ordering Aquash to be brought from Denver to Rapid City and that there was a discussion about "offing her".
AP, ''Rapid City Journal'', February 21, 2011, accessed June 10, 2011

Graham convicted of felony murder

On December 10, 2010, after two days of deliberation in the state court, jurors found John Graham guilty of felony murder, but acquitted him of the charge for

premeditated murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the c ...

. The felony murder conviction carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison. After an appeal by Graham, the South Dakota Supreme Court upheld the lower court conviction in May 2012.

Theories

Observers and historians speculate about who ordered the murder of Annie Mae Aquash. Before her death, Aquash allegedly said FBI Special Agent David Price threatened she would die within the year if she refused to inform on

testified in both the 1976 Butler and Robideau trial and the 2004 Looking Cloud trial that

had told him that the body of Anna Mae Aquash had been found before it was officially identified. Banks wrote in his autobiography, ''Ojibwa Warrior'', that Trudell told him that the body found was that of Aquash. Banks wrote that he did not know until then that Aquash had been killed, although she had been missing. In Looking Cloud's trial, the prosecution argued that AIM's suspicion of Aquash stemmed from her having heard Peltier admit to the murders of the FBI agents. Darlene "Kamook" Nichols, former wife of the AIM leader Dennis Banks, testified that in late 1975, Peltier told of shooting the FBI agents. He was talking to a small group of AIM activists who were fugitives from law enforcement. They included Nichols, her sister Bernie Nichols (later Lafferty), Nichols' husband Dennis Banks, and Aquash, among several others. Nichols testified that Peltier said, "The motherfucker was begging for his life, but I shot him anyway." Bernie Nichols-Lafferty gave the same account of Peltier's statement. Other witnesses have testified that once Aquash came under suspicion as an informant, Peltier interrogated her while holding a gun to her head. Peltier and David Hill later had Aquash participate in bomb-making so that her fingerprints would be on the bombs. The trio planted the bombs at two power plants on the Pine Ridge reservation. Extensive testimony suggests that AIM leaders ordered the murder of Aquash; because of her prominent position in the organization, lower-ranking members would not have taken action against her without permission from above.

Denise and Debbie Maloney

Together with federal and state investigators, Aquash's daughters Denise and Debbie believe that high-ranking AIM leaders ordered the death of their mother due to fears of her being an informant; they support the continued investigation. Denise Pictou-Maloney is the executive director of the "Indigenous Women for Justice", a group she founded to support justice for her mother and other Native women. In a 2004 interview, Pictou-Maloney said her mother was killed by AIM members who thought she knew too much. She knew what was happening in California, she knew where the money was coming from to pay for the guns, she knew the plans, but more than any of that, she knew about the killings. In March 2018, Denise Maloney spoke at the

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) is an epidemic of violence against Indigenous women in Canada, the United States, and Latin America; notably those in the FNIM (First Nations, Inuit, Métis) and Native American communities. Acros ...

inquiry in Montreal about her mother's murder.

Re-interment at Indian Brook Reservation

After the conviction of Looking Cloud in 2004, Aquash's family had her remains exhumed. They were transported to her homeland of Nova Scotia for reinterment on June 21 at Indian Brook Reservation in Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia. They held appropriate Mi'kmaq ceremonies and celebrated the work and life of the activist. Family and supporters have held annual anniversary ceremonies in Aquash's honor since then.

Representations in culture and media

Film

*''The Spirit of Anna Mae'' (2002) – a 72-minute film directed by Catherine Anne Martin, a tribute by women who knew Aquash. Produced by the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...

(NFB). * Maggie Eagle Bear – a leading character in the drama ''

Thunderheart ''Thunderheart'' is a 1992 American Neo-Western mystery film directed by Michael Apted from a screenplay by John Fusco. The film is a loosely based fictional portrayal of events relating to the Wounded Knee incident in 1973, when followers of th ...

'', loosely based on Aquash.

Literature

* ''

Lakota Woman ''Lakota Woman'' is a memoir by Mary Brave Bird, a Sicangu Lakota who was formerly known as Mary Crow Dog. Reared on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota, she describes her childhood and young adulthood, which included many historical e ...

-''

Mary Brave Bird Mary Brave Bird, also known as Mary Brave Woman Olguin and Mary Crow Dog (September 26, 1954 – February 14, 2013) was a Sicangu Lakota writer and activist who was a member of the American Indian Movement during the 1970s and participated in some ...

's 1990 memoir (published under the name Mary Crow Dog). Having been a close friend of Aquash, Brave Bird dedicates the chapter "Two Cut-off Hands" to her friendship with Aquash and the events leading to her death. * Aquash is the subject of June Jordan's "Poem for Nana," from Passion, her 1980 collection of poems.

Music

* "Slaying the Sun Woman", "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" on the ''

Coincidence and Likely Stories ''Coincidence and Likely Stories'' (1992) is an album by Buffy Sainte-Marie, her first in sixteen years, during which time she had been raising her son and working on the children's television show ''Sesame Street''. The album itself was largely r ...

'' album, and "The Uranium War" on '' Power in the Blood'', by

Cree The Cree ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada ...

singer-songwriter, musician and activist,

Buffy Sainte-Marie Buffy Sainte-Marie, (born Beverly Sainte-Marie, February 20, 1941) is an Indigenous Canadian-American (Piapot Cree Nation) singer-songwriter, musician, composer, visual artist, educator, pacifist, and social activist. While working in these are ...

. * "Anna Mae" – song by British Socialist folk singer Roy Bailey set to the tune of The Wind and Rain * "

Today's Empires, Tomorrow's Ashes ''Today's Empires, Tomorrow's Ashes'' is the third album by Canadian punk rock band Propagandhi, released February 6, 2001. It was released on the band's own G7 Welcoming Committee Records label in Canada and Fat Wreck Chords elsewhere. It is th ...

" – wherein punk band

Propagandhi Propagandhi is a Canadian punk rock band formed in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba in 1986 by guitarist Chris Hannah and drummer Jord Samolesky. The band is currently located in Winnipeg, Manitoba and completed by bassist Todd Kowalski and guitari ...

sing, "No justice shines upon the cemetery plots marked

Hampton Hampton may refer to: Places Australia *Hampton bioregion, an IBRA biogeographic region in Western Australia *Hampton, New South Wales *Hampton, Queensland, a town in the Toowoomba Region *Hampton, Victoria Canada *Hampton, New Brunswick *Hamp ...

, Weaver or Anna-Mae". * "Anna Mae" – song by American folk singer-songwriter and social activist Jim Page * "Anna Mae" – song by Larry Long * "Stolen Land" – song by Canadian singer

Bruce Cockburn Bruce Douglas Cockburn ( ; born May 27, 1945) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist. His song styles range from folk to jazz-influenced rock and his lyrics cover a broad range of topics including human rights, environmental issues, po ...

wherein he mentions "The spirit of Almighty Voice, the ghost of Anna Mae Call like thunder from the mountain, you can hear them say "it's a stolen land" * "Anna Mae Aquash" – song by Canadian folk/jazz singer-songwriter and Canadian social activist

Faith Nolan Faith Nolan (born 1957) is a Canadian social activist, folk and jazz singer-songwriter and guitarist of mixed African, Mi'kmaq, and Irish heritage. She currently resides in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Nolan and her family lived in Africville, a pre ...

* "For Anna Mae Pictou Aquash" – poem by

Joy Harjo Joy Harjo ( ; born May 9, 1951) is an American poet, musician, playwright, and author. She served as the 23rd United States Poet Laureate, the first Native American to hold that honor. She was also only the second Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetr ...

, recorded as a song by Harjo and the band Poetic Justice * "¿Do the Digs Dug?" – song by alternative political hip hop trio

The Goats The Goats were an American alternative hip hop trio from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. History The group (whose name, according to Swayzack, was chosen to join the word "scapegoats" and the saying "Don't get my goat," concluding that they felt th ...

containing the line "Whatcha afraid of? Annie Mae Aquash? Found her lying in the ditch with no place for a watch."

Theatre

*''Annie Mae's Movement'' (1999, reprinted 2006), a play by

Yvette Nolan Yvette Nolan (Algonquian peoples, Algonquin) (1961) is a Canadians, Canadian playwright, director, actor, and educator based out of Saskatchewan, Canada. She was born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. She has contributed significantly to the creati ...

about Aquash and her participation in AIM
Annie Mae's Movement
'' (2006), Miami University of Ohio Library

References

Bibliography

* Johanna Brand, ''The Life and Death of Anna Mae Aquash'', Lorimer; 2nd edition (January 1, 1993). . * Steve Hendricks, ''The Unquiet Grave: The FBI and the Struggle for the Soul of Indian Country''. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 2006.

External links

Anna Mae Aquash biography
First Nations/Issues of Consequence site, hosted at DickShovel website
Annie Mae Timeline
- 6 part timeline based on interviews, covers events from

Wounded Knee Occupation The Wounded Knee Occupation, also known as Second Wounded Knee, began on February 27, 1973, when approximately 200 Oglala Lakota (sometimes referred to as Oglala Sioux) and followers of the American Indian Movement (AIM) seized and occupied ...

through her body being found in Feb '76 and misidentified as a

Jane Doe John Doe (male) and Jane Doe (female) are multiple-use placeholder names that are used when the true name of a person is unknown or is being intentionally concealed. In the context of law enforcement in the United States, such names are often ...

Aquash Murder Case Timeline
focuses specifically on events around murder, by editors of

Compilation of news coverage of Annie Mae Aquash murder and related investigations
* – documentary, includes interviews with Aquash's friends and family, including leaders of AIM
Indigenous Women for JusticeJustice for Annie Mae and Ray Robinson
official website

''Heyoka Magazine'', Vol. 7, Spring 2007

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