In February 1976, the body of a woman was found at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. The official autopsy attributed her death to exposure. Both hands were severed and sent to Washington for fingerprinting, and the body was hastily buried without legal documents.
When the FBI identified the woman as Anna Mae Aquash, a Mi’kmaw activist from Nova Scotia involved in the American Indian Movement (AIM), her family and friends demanded a second autopsy. It revealed that she had been killed by a bullet fired execution style into the back of her head.
Anna Mae Aquash worked alongside Leonard Peltier and other leading figures of AIM. Like Peltier, whose case was a cause celebre, Aquash was targeted by the FBI. For decades she was believed to have been murdered by American law enforcement officials. But in 2003, fellow AIM activists Arlo Looking Cloud and John Graham were indicted for her murder. Looking Cloud was convicted in 2004, and Graham in 2010. Both were sentenced to mandatory life imprisonment. Many believe that Aquash’s murder was ordered by AIM officials who falsely suspected her to be an FBI informant.
Although subsequent events have shed new life on Aquash’s murder, this book, originally published in 1978 and updated in 1993, remains the definitive source of information on her life and death. This education includes a foreword from former federal Member of Parliament Warren Allmand, who explains how Peltier and Aquash’s cases are linked.
In February 1976, the body of a woman was found at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. The official autopsy attributed her death to exposure. Both hands were severed and sent to Washington for fingerprinting, and the body was hastily buried without legal documents.
When the FBI identified the woman as Anna Mae Aquash, a Mi’kmaw activist from Nova Scotia involved in the American Indian Movement (AIM), her family and friends demanded a second autopsy. It revealed that she had been killed by a bullet fired execution style into the back of her head.
Anna Mae Aquash worked alongside Leonard Peltier and other leading figures of AIM. Like Peltier, whose case was a cause celebre, Aquash was targeted by the FBI. For decades she was believed to have been murdered by American law enforcement officials. But in 2003, fellow AIM activists Arlo Looking Cloud and John Graham were indicted for her murder. Looking Cloud was convicted in 2004, and Graham in 2010. Both were sentenced to mandatory life imprisonment. Many believe that Aquash’s murder was ordered by AIM officials who falsely suspected her to be an FBI informant.
Although subsequent events have shed new life on Aquash’s murder, this book, originally published in 1978 and updated in 1993, remains the definitive source of information on her life and death. This education includes a foreword from former federal Member of Parliament Warren Allmand, who explains how Peltier and Aquash’s cases are linked.
