Native American rights activist Richard Oakes on Google Doodle

Richard Oakes was a leading Native American activist, best known for leading the 'Occupation of Alcatraz'. A Google Doodle has marked what would have been his 75th birthday. Oakes was born in New York on May 22, 1942. He was a member of the Mohawk tribe, which originated in the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada. He spent much of his childhood fishing and planting crops, but this way of life was destroyed by the construction of the St Lawrence Seaway, a vast system of locks, canals and channels. Oakes found work as a docker and a steelworker. In 1968 he married and had a son, but he divorced shortly after and moved to San Francisco, enrolling at San Francisco University. Dissatisfied with the curriculum, Oakes played an integral role in developing the first Native American studies department in the nation. He developed the curriculum and encouraged other Native American people to enrol at the university.