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Dennis Banks, Russell Means and Clyde Bellecourt

Dennis Banks, Russell Means and Clyde Bellecourt
Usage Conditions Apply
Artist
Cheryl Hastings, born 1944
Sitter
Dennis Banks, 12 Apr 1937 - 29 Oct 2017
Russell Means, 10 Nov 1939 - 22 Oct 2012
Clyde Howard Bellecourt, 8 May 1936 - 11 Jan 2022
Date
1971 (printed 2019)
Type
Photograph
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
Image: 14.5 × 21.5 cm (5 11/16 × 8 7/16")
Sheet: 20.3 × 25.4 cm (8 × 10")
Mat: 35.6 × 45.7 cm (14 × 18")
Topic
Costume\Jewelry\Necklace
Exterior
Costume\Dress Accessory\Eyeglasses
Nature & Environment\Plant
Costume\Jewelry\Bracelet
Equipment\Drafting & Writing Implements\Writing implement\Pen
Architecture\Stairs\Staircase
Costume\Dress Accessory\Belt
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
Clyde Howard Bellecourt: Male
Clyde Howard Bellecourt: Society and Social Change\Reformer\Activist\Civil rights activist
Portrait
Place
United States\Minnesota\Hennepin\Minneapolis
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Copyright
© Cheryl Walsh Bellville
Object number
NPG.2020.107
Exhibition Label
Dennis Banks (1937–2017) Born Leech Lake Reservation, Minnesota
Russell Means (1939–2012) Born Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota
Clyde H. Bellecourt (born 1936) Born White Earth Reservation, Minnesota
Cheryl Walsh Bellville photographed Dennis Banks (Ojibwe), Russell Means (Oglala Lakota), and Clyde Bellecourt (Ojibwe), leaders of the Minnesota-based American Indian Movement (AIM), at a tenement off Franklin Avenue in Minneapolis in August 1971. Banks, Bellecourt, and Means, along with other members of AIM, worked toward gaining rights for Native American communities in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area and beyond. Their multipronged efforts included drawing attention to the excessive policing of Native communities; creating housing projects; and establishing Native schools that functioned independently of the federal government.
AIM also organized marches and protests, some of which drew national and international attention. Following their seventy-one-day occupation of Wounded Knee, in South Dakota, in 1973, Banks and Means both faced charges that were later dropped. Despite their individual run-ins with the law and AIM’s internal conflicts, the three men continued advocating for Indigenous rights.
Cheryl Walsh Bellville (born 1944)
Gelatin silver print, 1971 (printed 2019)
NPG.2020.107
Izquierda a derecha:
Dennis Banks 1937–2017
Nacido en la reserva indígena de Leech Lake, Minnesota
Russell Means 1939–2012
Nacido en la reserva indígena de Pine Ridge, Dakota del Sur
Clyde H. Bellecourt n. 1936
Nacido en la reserva indígena de White Earth, Minnesota
Cheryl Walsh Bellville fotografió a Dennis Banks (ojibwe), Russell Means (oglala lakota) y Clyde Bellecourt (ojibwe), líderes del Movimiento Indígena Estadounidense (AIM) de Minnesota, en agosto de 1971 frente a un bloque de viviendas cerca de la avenida Franklin en Minneapolis. Banks, Bellecourt y Means, con otros miembros de AIM, lucharon por los derechos de las comunidades nativas americanas en el área de Minneapolis-St. Paul y más allá de esta. Entre sus esfuerzos en varios frentes se destacan la denuncia pública de la excesiva intrusión policial en las comunidades indígenas y la creación de viviendas públicas así como escuelas indígenas independientes del gobierno federal.
AIM organizó marchas y protestas, algunas de resonancia nacional e internacional. En 1973, tras una ocupación de 71 días en la aldea de Wounded Knee, Dakota del Sur, Banks y Means enfrentaron cargos judiciales, que luego fueron retirados. A pesar de sus roces con la ley y los conflictos internos de AIM, los tres hombres continuaron luchando por los derechos indígenas.
Data Source
National Portrait Gallery
Location
Currently not on view