Livestream

This event will be livestreamed on the museum's YouTube channel. Watch the livestream here.

In 1973, Sacheen Littlefeather (Apache/Yaqui/AZ), a member of the Screen Actors Guild, became the first Native woman to stand onstage at the Academy Awards ceremony, on behalf of Marlon Brando. Sacheen did not accept his Best Actor award for The Godfather (1972). She gave a passionate and moving 60-second speech regarding the stereotypes of Native Americans in the entertainment industry. She also brought attention to the 1973 Wounded Knee South Dakota protest. This historic television moment is significantly highlighted in the museum’s Academy Awards History gallery. As a result, Sacheen was professionally boycotted, personally harassed and attacked, and discriminated against for the last fifty years.

Sacheen invites you to a special celebration of live Native American performances featuring a long-awaited statement of apology from the Academy. The evening’s program will include a land acknowledgement courtesy of Virginia Carmelo (Tongva/So. CA), and a conversation between Sacheen and Academy Member, producer, and co-chair of the Academy’s Indigenous Alliance Bird Runningwater (Cheyenne/Mescalero Apache/NM). Additional performers and speakers will include Academy CEO Bill Kramer, traditional vocalist and singer Calina Lawrence (Suquamish/WA), former Academy President David Rubin, current Academy President Janet Yang, emcee Earl Neconie (Kiowa/OK), emcee Jacqueline Stewart, Michael Bellanger (Ojibiway/MN & Kickapoo/OK) and the All Nation Singers and Dancers, Steve Bohay (Kiowa/OK) and the Sooner Nation Singers and Dancers, and the White Mountain Apache Crown Dancers (Apache/AZ).