Unlikely Alliances from Woodstock to Wounded Knee

Abstract

"Pride," a 2014 award-winning independent film, tells the true story of the unlikely alliance between lesbian and gay activists and striking British coal miners in 1984. The National Mineworkers Union feared negative press and declined help offered by a London-based group of lesbian and gay activists. The activists took their financial and moral support directly to a small Welsh mining village, and began an alliance of mutual support, including participation by the National Mineworkers in a gay pride march. Sherry L. Smith examines another true but unlikely alliance in Hippies, Indians and the Fight for Red Power. Here, members of the American counterculture during the 1960s and 1970s offered help and collaboration as American Indians struggled for political and legal power and recognition. This nuanced analysis underscores the central role of Indian activists and the often ignorant and inconsistent contributions of non-Indians, but nonetheless shines light on the efforts of hippies, Quakers, and other non-Indians in the uphill struggle for fishing rights, land claims, and self-determination by Indian tribes.