Russell Means
Oglala Lakota activist, actor, and leader in the American Indian Movement.
Russell Charles Means, known in Lakota as Waŋblí Ohítika, was born on November 10, 1939, in Porcupine, South Dakota, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. His mother, Theodora Louise Feather, was Yankton Dakota from Greenwood, South Dakota, and his father, Walter "Hank" Means, was Oglala Lakota. He had three biological brothers: Dace, and twins William and Theodore. His mother gave him the name Waŋblí Ohítika, meaning "Brave Eagle" in Lakota. In 1942, the family moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to escape reservation poverty, and his father worked at a shipyard in Vallejo. Means graduated from San Leandro High School in California in 1958, attended four colleges without graduating, and later wrote in his 1995 autobiography about a difficult childhood marked by his father's alcoholism and his own years of truancy, crime, and drug use before finding direction in the American Indian Movement in Minneapolis.
After his father died in 1967, Means lived on several reservations seeking work. While at the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota, he developed severe vertigo. Reservation clinic doctors, assuming he was drunk, refused to examine him for days; they eventually diagnosed a concussion from a presumed bar fight. A visiting specialist later found a common ear infection had been overlooked, costing Means hearing in one ear. After recovering, he worked for a year in the Office of Economic Opportunity, where he met legal activists handling cases for the Lakota. Following a dispute with his supervisor, he moved to Cleveland, Ohio, and worked with Native American community leaders during the Civil Rights Movement.
Means joined the American Indian Movement in December 1969 and quickly became a prominent member, helping organize events that drew national and international media. In 1970, he was appointed AIM's first national director, and the group entered a period of increased protests. He participated in the 1969 Alcatraz occupation, having previously joined a 24-hour occupation there in March 1964 led by his father and a few other Lakota men. On Thanksgiving Day 1970, Means and other AIM activists seized the Mayflower II in Boston to protest Puritan and U.S. mistreatment of Native Americans. In 1971, he helped lead AIM's takeover of Mount Rushmore, a federal monument in the Black Hills sacred to the Lakota. In November 1972, he took part in AIM's occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs headquarters in Washington, D.C., where records were taken or destroyed and over $2 million in damage occurred. In 1973, Means served as a spokesman and prominent leader during AIM's 71-day armed standoff at Wounded Knee, alongside Dennis Banks and Carter Camp. Two activists—Frank Clearwater and Lawrence "Buddy" Lamont—were killed in April, and African-American activist Ray Robinson disappeared, presumed buried in the hills.
In 1974, Means resigned from AIM to run for president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe against incumbent Richard Wilson. The official count showed Wilson winning by over 200 votes; residents reported intimidation by Wilson's private militia, and a government investigation confirmed election problems, though a federal court upheld the results. In the late 1970s, Means turned to international indigenous rights work, collaborating with Jimmie Durham to establish the International Indian Treaty Council's United Nations offices in 1977. On the Pine Ridge Reservation, he helped organize community institutions like KILI radio station and the Porcupine Health Clinic. He traveled to Germany, behind the Iron Curtain to meet East German AIM supporters, and to Switzerland for a Geneva human rights conference. By the mid-1970s, Means and Ojibwe activist Dennis Banks were the best-known Native Americans since Lakota leaders of earlier eras.
Beginning an acting career in 1992, Means appeared in television series and films including *The Last of the Mohicans*, *Pocahontas*, and *Curb Your Enthusiasm*. He released a music CD and published his autobiography, *Where White Men Fear to Tread*, in 1995. Means died on October 22, 2012.
- field
- Activism, politics, acting, music, writing
- nationality
- Oglala Lakota / American
Lore & Background
Russell Charles Means was an Oglala Lakota man, given the name Waŋblí Ohítika, meaning “Brave Eagle,” by his mother. He was born on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota and spent much of his childhood in the San Francisco Bay Area after his family relocated to escape reservation poverty. Means attended four colleges without graduating and, by his own account, experienced a difficult youth marked by truancy, crime, and drug use before finding direction through the American Indian Movement. He suffered permanent hearing loss in one ear after reservation doctors misdiagnosed a common ear infection as intoxication. As a prominent AIM leader, Means helped organize high-profile protests including the seizure of the Mayflower II in Boston, the takeover of Mount Rushmore, and the occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs headquarters. He served as a spokesman during the 71-day armed standoff at Wounded Knee. In 1974, he ran for president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe but lost an election marred by intimidation and later upheld in court. Means later shifted focus to international indigenous rights, working with the United Nations and traveling to Germany, behind the Iron Curtain, and to Switzerland for human rights conferences. He also assisted in founding community institutions on the Pine Ridge Reservation, such as KILI radio and a health clinic.
Reader's Guide
Russell Means’s activism was defined by direct, confrontational actions that forced Native American grievances into the national spotlight. As a prominent member of the American Indian Movement, he helped orchestrate a series of high-profile takeovers, including the seizure of a replica of the Mayflower in Boston, the occupation of Mount Rushmore within the sacred Black Hills, and the takeover of the Bureau of Indian Affairs headquarters in Washington, D.C. His most famous role came during the 71-day armed standoff at Wounded Knee, where he served as a spokesman alongside other AIM leaders. Means also engaged in tribal politics, running for the presidency of the Oglala Sioux Tribe in a contested election that was later investigated for irregularities. Beyond the United States, he worked with the International Indian Treaty Council to bring indigenous rights before the United Nations and traveled to Europe, including behind the Iron Curtain, to build international solidarity. His later career as an actor in films such as *The Last of the Mohicans* and *Pocahontas* brought his image to a global audience, while his autobiography detailed a personal journey from truancy and addiction to becoming one of the most recognizable Native American figures of the late twentieth century.
Did You Know?
- Means was given the Lakota name Waŋblí Ohítika, meaning 'Brave Eagle', by his mother.
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