1964 Vine Deloria, Jr., becomes head of the National Congress of American Indians, retaining the position until 1967. 1966 Peabody Coal Company starts mining on Black Mesa in Arizona. 1968 The American Indian Movement (AIM) is started in Minnesota. 1969 Indians occupy Alcatraz Island in November, remaining there until June 1971. 1970 Indians occupy Mount Rushmore to protest desecration of the Black Hills. 1970 Members of AIM, including Russell Means and Dennis Banks, occupy Mayflower II in Plymouth, Massachusetts. 1973 Indians, led by members of AIM, occupy Wounded Knee for 71 days. 1975 Two FBI agents are killed on Pine Ridge Reservation Leonard Peltier is convicted of their deaths in a controversial decision in 1977 that leads many to consider Peltier a political prisoner. 1979 The American Indian Religious Freedom Act becomes law, guaranteeing religious freedom to Indians. 1990 The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act requires museums and other institutions to return Indian spiri- tual, cultural, and funerary artifacts as well as human remains to the Indian groups to which they belong. 1993 The Native American Free Exercise of Religion Act further strengthens Indians’ freedom to practice their traditional religions. 2004 The National Museum of the American Indian opens in Washington, D.C. xviii Timeline of Events in the History of Native American–U.S. Relations
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