Sacheen Littlefeather is an actress and civil rights activist from Native America. In 1973, she stood in for Marlon Brando at the 45th Academy Awards.
Littlefeather didn’t want to give Marlon the Best Actor award for his role in The Godfather.
Marlon, who was the favorite to win, didn’t go to the ceremony to protest how Native Americans are portrayed in Hollywood and to bring attention to the Wounded Knee standoff. In response to Marlon’s boycott, the crowd both booed and cheered during Sacheen’s speech.
In June 2022, the Academy sent her a letter of apology, which she read at Sacheen Littlefeather’s An Evening on September 17.
What kind of people is actress Sacheen Littlefeather?
Sacheen Littlefeather’s father is Native American and her mother is European American.
During the Alcatraz occupation in 1969, the actress became part of a group of Native American activists. Sacheen seems to come from a Caucasian background.
She went to North Salinas High School from 1960 to 1964. She was in 4-H and won awards for things like preserving food and making clothes.
After high school, the activist for civil rights went to Hartnell Junior College and majored in elementary education. Littlefeather moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1969 to try to become a model. She brought with her a portfolio of photos taken by Kenneth Cook of Cook’s Photography.
Sacheen kept looking into who she was as a Native American while she was at California State University studying speech and theater.
The family history of the Native American activist Sacheen Littlefeather
On November 14, 1946, Sacheen Littlefeather was born. Her mother, Geroldine Marie Barnitz, was a leather stamper who was born and raised in Santa Barbara, California. She was of German, French, and Dutch descent.
Manuel Ybarra Cruz, her father, was born in Oxnard, California. He was part White Mountain Apache and part Yaqui. Her father and mother both made saddles.
Her father learned the trade as a child in San Francisco, and her mother learned it from Leo Leonard. In 1949, her parents moved to Salinas and started a business called “Cruz Saddlery.” When Geroldine’s father died in 1966, she took over the business.
In interviews, Sacheen has talked about how hard her childhood was. In an interview in 1974, the actress said that when she was four years old, her mother left her father and sent her to live with her maternal grandparents.
In 1988, the civil rights activist said that her parents and two younger sisters lived next door to her maternal grandparents, Marie and Gerold “Barney” Barnitz.
Is Sacheen Littlefeather native to the United States?
Sacheen Littlefeather is a Native American, that’s true. In 1969, Littlefeather became a member of the United Bay Indian Council.
In 1970, the actress took part in the occupation of Alcatraz. However, because she was a student, she couldn’t live on the island full-time, so she used the name Sacheen Littlefeather.
She says that Sacheen is a Navajo word that means “little bear.” Littlefeather learned more about Native American traditions from elders and other protesters, like Adam Fortunate Eagle. In an interview after her performance at the Oscars, Fortunate Eagle said that she had helped with the Alcatraz protest.
On March 6, 1973, Littlefeather went to a meeting between the Federal Communications Commission and people from several minority groups to talk about how minorities are shown on TV.
In an interview that came out right before she went to the Oscars, the civil rights activist said that she helped send two Indian nurses to Wounded Knee and that she and seven other Native Americans had given up their US citizenship.