Disappearing Acts: Anna Mae Aquash

Anna Mae Aquash (1945-1975) was an Indigenous activist known for her advocacy for Indigenous rights during the American Indian Movement (AIM) in the 1970s. Her commitment to the cause made her a symbol of resistance against injustices faced by Native American communities. Her life was cut short in 1975 under mysterious circumstances, sparking ongoing investigations and debates about her death and the broader issues of Indigenous rights.

For Further Reading:

• Anna Mae Pictou Aquash

• Who Killed Anna Mae?

• The Life and Death of Anna Mae Aquash

Historically, women have been told to make themselves smaller, to diminish themselves. Some have used that idea to their advantage, disappearing into new identities. For others, a disappearance was the end to their stories, but the beginning of a new chapter in their legacies. This month we’re telling the stories of these women: we’re talking about disappearing acts.

History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn’t help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.

Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Before we get started, just a heads up. This episode
contains mentions of rape and violence. Hello from Wonder Media Network.
I'm Jenny Kaplan and this is Wamanica. Historically, women have
been told to make themselves smaller, to diminish themselves. Some

(00:24):
have used that idea to their advantage, disappearing into new identities.
For others, a disappearance was the end to their stories,
but the beginning of a new chapter in their legacies.
This month, we're telling the stories of these women. We're
talking about disappearing acts. Today we're talking about a woman
who symbolized resilience, courage, and the indomitable spirit of the

(00:46):
indigenous peoples of North America. Let's talk about Anime. Aquash
Anna May was born on March twenty seventh, nineteen forty five,
on the Yegamach Indian Reserve in Nova Scotia, Canada. Her
mother supported Anime and her two sisters through welfare and

(01:07):
work as a housekeeper. Anime's father worked in Maine in
logging camps. Anime left Nova Scotia when she was sixteen.
She moved to Maine to work as a farm hand.
From there, she joined a group of Eastern Canadians known
as Maritimers, in their migration to Boston to find better employment.

(01:28):
In nineteen sixty five, Anime married fellow megamach Jake Maloney.
They had two daughters together before divorcing a few years later.
In Boston, Anime joined a group that helped Indigenous people
find jobs in education and fight addictions. It was called
the Boston Indian Council. There she witnessed firsthand the discrimination

(01:51):
and marginalization faced by Indigenous communities at the hands of
colonial powers. So when she was offered a scholarship to
brank and Ice University, Anime turned it down to continue
her indigenous community advocacy work. Determined to make a difference,
Anime became actively involved in the American Indian Movement or
AIM during the nineteen seventies. This marked a period of

(02:15):
intense activism in social upheaval. AIM was an anti establishment
movement modeled after the Black Panthers. AIM promoted Indigenous rights
in the United States. The organization was known as one
of the more radical advocacy groups for Indigenous civil rights.
Anime participated in many of its protests, marches, and advocacy campaigns.

(02:42):
In nineteen seventy two, AIM organized the Trail of Broken
Treaties March in Washington, d C. Anime was among the
protesters who occupied the Bureau of Indian Affairs building. Demonstrators
hung a banner that said Native American Embassy and barricaded
themselves inside, going through baha and boxes of documents. The

(03:03):
next year, Anime went to South Dakota. There she joined
the ten week occupation of the village of Wounded Knee
at the Lakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. In eighteen ninety,
federal troops perpetrated a massacre of the Sioux people at
Wounded Knee. This occupation was in protest of decades of
the US government failing to honor Native treaties. Anime was

(03:26):
eager to be among her fellow AIM activists. She wrote
in a letter to her sister, the whole country changed
with only a handful of raggedy ass pilgrims that came
over here in the fifteen hundreds, and it can take
a handful of raggedy ass Indians to do the same.
And I intend to be one of those raggedy ass Indians.
But Ames suffered from a misogynistic, hierarchical social order, and

(03:49):
when Anime was put on kitchen duty by AMES leader,
she replied, mister Banks, I didn't come here to wash dishes.
I came here to fight. Even Anime's own people were
going to deny her participation in this standoff. She was
aware of the corruption and injustice inside the organization, and
she didn't shy away from it. Instead, she spoke out

(04:11):
and challenged leadership. This ruffled feathers within AIM. Anime left
Pine Ridge before the occupation culminated in the death of
two FBI agents. Still, she stood firm in her convictions
and fought for the rights of her people through other
AIM projects. In December of nineteen seventy five, Anime's life

(04:36):
came to a mysterious and untimely end. She disappeared under
suspicious circumstances, and two months later a rancher found her
body at the bottom of a thirty foot embankment on
the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Her cause of death was
listed as exposure, and she was buried in an unidentified grave,

(04:58):
but her family knew bet letter. Her family demanded a
second autopsy. It was discovered that Anime was raped and
shot in the back of the head later, evidence showed
that she was kidnapped and interrogated. Anime's murder made national
and local headlines, but not always with accurate information. This

(05:22):
began a thirty five year investigation into Anime's death. Speculation
and theories abound regarding the events leading to Anime's demise.
Some believed she was targeted for her activism, silenced by
those threatened by her unwavering commitment to justice. Others say
AIM members suspected Anime was an FBI informant and that

(05:45):
played a role in her death. Over time, the investigation
stalled as AIM members refused to cooperate with prosecutors. They
didn't trust the authorities. It wasn't until the late nineteen
nine that AIM members began to come forward. One of
Ames's former security guards, r Low Looking Cloud, confessed to

(06:07):
taking part in Anime's abduction and murder. He then shared
that another AIM member, John Graham, was responsible for pulling
the trigger. The two men were sentenced to life in
prison in two thousand and four. Anime's body was returned
and buried in Nova Scotia. Today, her story symbolizes the

(06:30):
injustice and oppression Indigenous women face. Her life and death
also helped inspire the mission behind the Missing and Murdered
Indigenous Women, or MMW movement. In February of twenty nineteen,
the South Dakota Senate Committee introduced to build that would
require the Division of Criminal Investigation to begin setting guidelines

(06:51):
for data collection of possible MMIW cases. All month, we're
talking of disappearing acts. For more information, find us on
Facebook and Instagram at Womanica Podcast special thanks to Liz Kaplan,
my favorite sister and co creator. Talk to you tomorrow.