“There was no running water, no electricity. But a lot of people at that time had come from reservations, been on relocation, so they were used to living without electricity and running water. So it wasn’t that big of a deal,” Madonna says, referring to the mass relocation that began in the 1950s, when the government decided to terminate much of its support for tribes, and Native people were pushed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs to move from their homelands into big cities to assimilate.

Madonna kept busy on the island. “I just kind of started the day care, organized the younger women on the island to help. They volunteered. Then I started working in the depot, organizing that. Donations were coming in and just being dropped off. I organized the Episcopal churches to give us their old candles. Those are important things if you are going to run a community without electricity.”

Eventually, the government decided to storm the Rock and end the occupation. On June 10, 1971, armed federal marshals, FBI agents, and special forces police raided Alcatraz, removing five women, four children, and six unarmed Native men in the process.

At the time, some viewed the Native occupation of Alcatraz as a failure, but hindsight has revealed it to be a resounding success.

Davis, California, became home to a Native university as a result. And the occupation spread the word of the plight of Native peoples in America around the globe. More than 100,000 listeners in California, Texas, and New York tuned in each week to listen to John Trudell on Radio Free Alcatraz. Non-Natives learned, many for the first time, about Native history, treaties, and how Native rights were being violated. Trudell offered the public more than lessons, though. He laid out a vision for the future — one of equality among people of all races, colors, and creeds — and for how we could live in harmony with planet Earth.

The public attention was so great that the Alcatraz occupation, along with the American Indian Movement’s occupation of Wounded Knee, in 1973, pushed the U.S. government to end its policy of termination of tribes and begin an official new policy of Native self-determination, giving tribes greater control over their own destinies and promoting the protection of tribal cultures, languages, and beliefs. In this way, the Alcatraz occupation changed the course of history and prevented the extinction of tribal nations.

“Alcatraz put Indian people back on the national radar for the United States,” Madonna tells Teen Vogue. “At the time, it was all action and excitement, but now you look back at it, the Red Power movement was a basic movement of our people. It wasn’t just a bunch of young radicals trying to stop the war. It was our whole society.”

The occupation of Alcatraz had another effect, too. It exposed urban Natives who had been removed from their homelands to Native spirituality and ritual.

“A lot of the young people that were here had never been to ceremonies, even with their own people, because they were students, they came out on relocation or they just traveled here. It was really meaningful because they had never seen or experienced it,” Madonna says.

Alcatraz became a national park in 1972, and it continues to serve as a base for Native social justice activism. Every Thanksgiving, people gather there to celebrate “Unthanksgiving Day,” reminding everyone about the wrongs committed against this land’s Indigenous peoples under the banner of colonization. (Colin Kaepernick appeared at the event in 2017 to show his support. The Longest Walk, held every year, is meant to highlight challenges faced by Native communities. It starts at Alcatraz and ends in Washington, D.C..

While the occupation of Alcatraz occurred nearly half a century ago, we are still feeling the effects of the social movement it created. We are its legacy. Madonna offers politically active young women of today these words of wisdom: “This is your time. This is your generation's time, and don't wait for anyone to give you permission. Keep one foot in your community so you don’t get ahead of people. Find an issue you can build solidarity around and fight for it. Your elders will stand behind you, we believe in you.”

You can learn more about Madonna Thunder Hawk’s inspiring life’s work and her role in the Red Power movement by visiting warriorwomen.org, and watching this film about her: Warrior Women.