She was polite. She was respectful. She gently waved away the proffered Academy Award statuette from actor Roger Moore and softly said, “Hello. My name is Sacheen Littlefeather.
“I’m Apache and I’m President of the National Native American Affirmative Image Committee. I’m representing Marlon Brando this evening and he has asked me to tell you in a very long speech which I cannot share with you presently because of time, but I will be glad to share with the press afterwards, that he very regretfully cannot accept this very generous award. And the reasons for this being are the treatment of American Indians today by the film industry…”
Interrupted by jeers, hoots and scattered applause, Littlefeather, who passed away in October 22, quietly said, “Excuse me” and continued. “…and on television in movie reruns and also with recent happenings at Wounded Knee. I beg at this time that I have not intruded upon this evening and that we will in the future, our hearts and our understandings will meet with love and generosity. Thank you on behalf of Marlon Brando.”
A half-century later a plea for equality and fair representation of Native Americans in film and TV would hardly generate a ripple of disagreement, but Littlefeather, who died in October at 75, found her own career aspirations dashed and her motives questioned (a viral rumor was that she was not a Native American at all, but in truth a paid stripper from Mexico).
Within minutes of her appearance, she became the butt of jokes. Raquel Welch, presenting the award for best actress, said, “I hope she doesn’t have a cause,” while Clint Eastwood, announcing best picture quipped, “I don’t know if I should present this award on behalf of all the cowboys shot in all the John Ford Westerns over the years.”
In 1990, Ms. Littlefeather spoke to People Magazine of that evening in 1973—where she also called attention to “recent happenings at Wounded Knee,” where a dispute over corruption at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota led to a standoff with federal authorities. “I went up there thinking I could make a difference. I was very naive. I told people about oppression. They said, ‘You’re ruining our evening.’”
Brando, who later said, “They should have had at least the courtesy to listen to her,” found two bulletholes in his front door that night.
Littlefeather continued her work on behalf of Native American rights and lived to see her fight vindicated by the very industry that had once dismissed her. This past June then-Academy President David Rubin sent her a “statement of reconciliation,” writing that the abuse and exclusion she had suffered over the years “was unwarranted and unjustified.”
Her quiet but bold minute before an audience of 85 million (Awards producer Howard W. Koch threatened her with arrest if she went over 60 seconds) resonated at the time with Native American activists who celebrated her as a hero for highlighting issues of race and exclusion that had long been unconfronted or swept aside.
Native American filmmakers and producers, including Bird Runningwater, also saw Ms. Littlefeather as instrumental in opening the door toward more humanizing and accurate depictions of Native American life in television shows like Reservation Dogs and films such as Prey.
“The moment we’re having now,” Runningwater said, “is something that she and our filmmaking community had always dreamed of 50 years ago.”
In an interview with Variety, a month before she passed, Littlefeather shared a glimpse of the spirituality that sustained her.
"When we die, we know that our ancestors are coming to give. We know that we’re going to that spirit world from where we came. We take this as a warrior with pride and not defeat, looking forward to joining our ancestors who are going to be there with us at our last breath and they’re going to welcome us into that world on the other side and have a big celebration for us.”
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