A flag honoring the Wampanoag Indians flew over the United States
Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. The Civil Rights efforts of
the 1960s translated into a heightened political and social presence
for Native Americans in the 1970s. Organizations such as the American
Indian Movement (AIM) staged political protests to draw attention
to unjust treatment of Native Americans.
On Thanksgiving Day 1970, 25 Native Americans dressed in traditional
garb held a day of mourning at Plymouth, Massachusetts. They gathered
before the statue of Massassoit, the Wampanoag Chief who aided
the Plymouth Colony, and proceeded to bury Plymouth Rock under
mounds of sand.
A year after the Wampanoag flag flew over the Capitol, a descendant
of one of the Plymouth settlers presented it to the current Wampanoag
Chief in a Thanksgiving Day ceremony.
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