1. Vernon Bellecourt was a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, a Native American rights activist, and a leader in the American Indian Movement.
13 Facts About Vernon Bellecourt
1. 2.
One of 12 children in his family, Bellecourt was born on the White Earth Indian Reservation, where he lived until he was 16 years old.
3.
Vernon Bellecourt was a long-time leader in the American Indian Movement, which his younger brother, Clyde Vernon Bellecourt, helped found in 1968.
4.
Vernon Bellecourt co-founded the AIM chapter in Denver, and was its first Executive Director.
5.
Vernon Bellecourt took part in the 1972 Trail of Broken Treaties caravan to Washington, DC.
6.
Vernon Bellecourt served as a negotiator during AIM's occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs headquarters building at the Department of Interior.
7.
Vernon Bellecourt was present briefly during the 1973 Wounded Knee occupation at Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.
8.
Vernon Bellecourt acted as an AIM spokesman and fundraiser during the 71-day standoff with federal agents.
9.
Vernon Bellecourt traveled to Germany, where he, together with AIM co-founder Dennis Banks, set up an AIM office in West Berlin and traveled behind the Iron Curtain to meet with East German AIM supporters.
10.
Vernon Bellecourt was active for many years in the campaign to free AIM activist Leonard Peltier, who was convicted in 1977 of killing two FBI agents during a 1975 shootout on the Pine Ridge Reservation.
11.
Vernon Bellecourt fought against nicknames such as the Washington Redskins, Atlanta Braves or Kansas City Chiefs.
12.
Vernon Bellecourt was arrested twice in Cleveland in protest of the Cleveland Indians' mascot, Chief Wahoo.
13.
Vernon Bellecourt died of pneumonia at age 75, in Minneapolis where he lived.