Russell Means
| Russell Means | |
|---|---|
Means in 1987
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| Born |
Russell Charles Means November 10, 1939 Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota, United States |
| Died | October 22, 2012 (aged 72) Rapid City, South Dakota, United States |
| Cause of death | Esophageal cancer |
| Resting place | Cremains scattered at the Black Hills |
| Occupation | Activist, politician, actor, writer, musician |
| Years active | 1968–2012 |
| Spouse(s) | (Four previous marriages) Pearl Means (m. 1999; his death 2012) |
| Children | 7 (three adopted) |
Russell Charles Means (November 10, 1939 – October 22, 2012) was an Oglala Lakota activist for the rights of Native American people, libertarian political activist, actor, writer, and musician. He became a prominent member of the American Indian Movement (AIM) after joining the organization in 1968, and helped organize notable events that attracted national and international media coverage.
Means was active in international issues of indigenous peoples, including working with groups in Central and South America, and with the United Nations for recognition of their rights. He was active in politics at his native Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and at the state and national level.
Beginning an acting career in 1992, he appeared on numerous television series and in several films, including The Last of the Mohicans, and released his own music CD. He published his autobiography Where White Men Fear to Tread in 1995. Means died in 2012, less than a month before his 73rd birthday.
Means was born on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota, to Theodora Louise Feather and Walter "Hank" Means. His mother was a Yankton Dakota from Greenwood, South Dakota, and his father, an Oglala Lakota. He was given the name Wanbli Ohitika by his mother, which means "Brave Eagle" in the Lakota language.
In 1942 the Means family resettled in the San Francisco Bay Area, seeking to escape the poverty and problems of the reservation. His father worked at the shipyard. Means grew up in the Bay area, graduating in 1958 from San Leandro High School in San Leandro, California. He attended four colleges but did not graduate from any of them. In his 1995 autobiography, Means recounted a harsh childhood; his father was alcoholic and he himself fell into years of "truancy, crime and drugs" before finding purpose in the American Indian Movement in Minneapolis.
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