- Publication Date |
- Sep 09, 2022
- Episode Duration |
- 00:54:09
It was 60 seconds that changed Sacheen Littlefeather’s life. On March 27, 1973, the 26-year-old Apache/Yaqui woman walked onto a stage at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles and into the international spotlight.
The young woman dressed in a Northern buckskin dress rejected the Academy Award to Marlon Brando for The Godfather. The actress and activist calmly explained to 85 million people that it was due to "the treatment of American Indians today by the film industry."
Fifty years later and the Academy has apologized.
In this exclusive conversation with Unreserved host Rosanna Deerchild, Littlefeather recalls that famous moment, what led up to it, the fallout and what it all meant for the American Indian Movement and Indigenous people across Turtle Island in the five decades since.