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1971 Occupation of Nike Missile Site by Chicago Indian Village
June 14, 1971
Source

Chuck (Charles) Kirman for Chicago Sun-Times. "Occupation of Nike site by Native Americans." ST-13002121-0003, Chicago Sun-Times collection, Chicago History Museum.

On Monday June 14, 1971, a number of Native people involved in or affiliated with the organization Chicago Indian Village (CIV) broke into an abandoned United States Army missile site in Belmont Harbor. The occupation was one of several during this period by CIV, who took up the strategy of occupying abandoned federal sites, a tactic used by Native activists across the country during the Red Power era. The site included 12-acres on the lakefront that had recently been closed by the Department of Defense as part of the process to turn the land over to the Chicago Park District.

Mike Chosa (Ojibwe) led CIV alongside Carol Warrington (Menominee). Chosa used media attention from the occupation to call for housing and education for Native youth, requesting 200 public housing units, space for educating hundreds of Native children, a cultural center, and more access to jobs. As a result of the occupation, Chosa reached an agreement the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Office of Economic Opportunity for 132 units of public housing in Uptown that would be opened for Native families. Another part of the agreement designated Camp Seager, a Methodist Youth Camp near Naperville, Illinois as a temporary housing site that CIV did eventually occupy. But to some in CIV this was not enough.

The group was ultimately removed from the site to a church, after altercations between police and protestors results in the arrest of twelve Native activists.

Sources:

'Big Bend' Indians Can Stay - Awhile." The Daily Herald. Chicago, Illinois. July 7, 1971. p. 48.
"Don't Let Police Hurt US: Indians." The Daily Herald. Chicago, Illinois. July 23, 1971. p. 86.
David Fortney. "Indians Occupy Missile Base." Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Illinois. June 15, 1971. p. 1, 6.
"Free Church Youths Aid Indians At Forest Area." The Daily Herald. Chicago, Illinois. July 8, 1971. p. 88.
Vicki Hamende. "Suburbs Open Heart to Indians." The Daily Herald. Chicago, Illinois. July 8, 1971. p. 88.
"Indians Seize Nike Site Here." Chicago Daily News. June 14, 1971. Native American Educational Services. Chicago Campuses. [Box 31, Folder Chicago Indian Village, Articles, 1970-1971] Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.
"Indians Vacate Nike Campsite at Argonne, Sign Housing Pact." Chicago Tribune. Chicago Illinois. August 21, 1971. p. 3
John O'Brien and Donna Gill. "Indian Movement Lacks Unity, National Leader." Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Illinois. August 23, 1971. p. 1-2. Jack Queeney. "Fifty Indians Seize Empty Missile Site". Chicago Today. June 14, 1971 Native American Educational Services. Chicago Campuses. [Box 31, Folder Chicago Indian Village, Articles, 1970-1971] Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.
Terri Schulz. "Chicago's Indians Continue to Occupy 'Fort Belmont.'" Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Illinois. July 1, 1971. p. 16.
Studs Terkel. "Mike Chosa discusses the struggles of Native Americans." 1971. Chicago History Museum. https://studsterkel.wfmt.com/programs/mike-chosa-discusses-struggles-native-americans.
Donals Yabush. "Chosa Conflict with Teachers; Indian Children Leave School." Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Illinois. November 11, 1971. p. 5.
Stanley Ziemba. "Leader Hits Rowdy Acts by Indians." Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Illinois. June 28, 1971. p. 32.

Related Lists

Red Power Activism in Chicago

Native people have long asserted their presence across the United States, however, the most often looked to period of Native activism is known as the Red Power Movement of the 1960s and 1970s. <br> <br> The Red Power Movement is defined by moments outside of Chicago that include the Indians of All Tribes' occupation of Alcatraz, the Occupation of Wounded Knee by the American Indian Movement (AIM), and the occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C.; but these were not the only ways Native peoples advocated for themselves. Within Chicago, the Native community chose multiple paths of activism, spanning from occupying sites to protest housing conditions, founding pre-secondary schools, establishing a college, and promoting intertribal collaborations across the Unites States. <br> <br> This City Story centers the Chicago Native community by examining sites and actions taken by Native people within Chicago during the era of Red Power. However, it also looks beyond these moments. Tribal nations, intertribal institutions, individual Native people, and at times non-Natives have consistently worked to promote Indigenous issues within cities such as Chicago. <br> <br> Sources<br> Daniel Cobb. *Native Activism in Cold War America: The Struggle for Sovereignty.* (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2008). <br> Kent Blansett, Cathleen D. Cahill, and Andrew Needham, eds. *Indian Cities: Histories of Indigenous Urbanization.* (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2022). <br> James B. LaGrand. *Indian Metropolis: Native Americans in Chicago, 1945-75.* (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2002). <br> John Laukaitis. *Community Self-Determination: American Indian Education in Chicago, 1952-2006.* (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2015).