When Sacheen Littlefeather took the Oscars stage in 1973, she was the first Native American woman to ever stand there.
During her minute-long speech, she received both applause and boos, and in June this year, the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which organizes the Oscars, apologized to Littlefeather for the aftermath of her speech.
“The harassment you endured because of your statement was uncalled for and unjust.
The emotional burden you lived with and the consequences it had on your career in our industry cannot be repaired,” the academy wrote.
John Wayne was furious
In an interview with The Guardian last year, Littlefeather said that cowboy actor John Wayne became enraged.
"During my presentation, he came to force me off the stage and he had to be held back by six bodyguards," she said at the time.
She also believes she has been blacklisted by the industry after the speech.
Littlefeather has now received the apology and will participate in a conversation that the academy is arranging in September.
“Regarding the academy's apology to me, we Indians are very patient – it's only been 50 years!
We always have to keep our sense of humor about things like this.
It is our way of survival," she says in a statement.
The Wounded Knee Occupation
In his speech, Sacheen Littlefeather addressed, among other things, the occupation at Wounded Knee that lasted for two months in 1973. Activists from the American Indian Movement (AIM) occupied the town of Wounded Knee and demanded the resignation of a local leader and that the US government should uphold agreements it had made with the Native American population.
See the speech in the clip.