Adam Fortunate Eagle

Adam Fortunate Eagle (born Adam Nordwall), hereditary member of the Ojibwa Nation, is a Native American activist and was the principal organizer of the 1969-71 occupation of Alcatraz Island by "Indians of All Tribes." He was the author of the "THE ALCATRAZ PROCLAMATION to the Great White Father and his People," which stated the goal of the occupiers was to create a Center for Native American Studies, an American Indian Spiritual Center, an Indian Center of Ecology, and a Great Indian Training School, none of which came to be on the island. While the occupation of Alcatraz seemed a failure on the surface, the federal policy of termination of all tribes ended in 1971, and self-determination became the new policy. Many consider the Alcatraz occupation the beginning of the "Red Power" movement. Most recently, Fortunate Eagle performed the voice of Sitting Bull in the feature-length documentary, "SITTING BULL: A STONE IN MY HEART"( www.sittingbullfilm.com) and is in the process of writing a book on his experiences as an Indian boarding school student.

He is the father of poet nila northSun.