Alcatraz Island - Links for Alcatraz Information on the World Wide Web (U.S. National Park Service)

There is a wealth of information about Alcatraz on the Internet. Here are a few sites that we recommend to start with.

Note that we can not provide a direct link to some of these sites. To access them you will need to cut and paste the address in to your browser window.

The following links will help you explore the 19 month occupation by Indians of All Tribes which began forty years ago on November 20 1969:

http://www.csulb.edu/~gcampus/libarts/am-indian/alcatraz/

An article by Dr. Troy Johnson and photo archive by photographers Ilka Hartmann and Michelle Vignes on the American Indian occupation of Alcatraz in 1969.

Article by Dr. Troy Johnson on the Alcatraz occupation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_Alcatraz

Wikipedia article on the Alcatraz occupation.

http://www.pbs.org/itvs/alcatrazisnotanisland/nativeland.html

PBS site on the film Alcatraz Is Not An Island about the 1969-71 occupation of Alcatraz.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/11/20/alcatraz.indian.occupation/

CNN article on the 40th anniversary of the occupation.

http://diva.sfsu.edu/collections/sfbatv/2589

San Francisco State University site with numerous videos shot by KPIX and KQED during the occupation.

A tribute to Joseph Leo 'Indian Joe' Morris who passed away on October 18 - Joe played a very important role in the occupation as a longshoreman and member of the Blackfoot tribe.

http://prisonphotography.wordpress.com/2009/11/20/40th-anniversary-of-the-alcatraz-indian-occupation-an-interview-with-ilka-hartmann/

Interview with Ilka Hartmann who took many of the photos of the occupation of Alcatraz.

http://cwis.org/fwdp/Americas/alcatraz.txt

Text of THE ALCATRAZ PROCLAMATION TO THE GREAT WHITE FATHER AND HIS PEOPLE, 1969, from the American Indian occupation of Alcatraz.

http://www.nativepeoples.com/article/articles/144/1/Alcatraz-Taking-Back-quotThe-Rockquot/Page1.html

An article from NATIVE PEOPLES MAGAZINE on the Alcatraz Occupation written in 1999 on the occasion of the 30th anniversary.

Other Alcatraz links:

This site was developed by the Museum Management Division of the National Park Service and features photos and information on objects in the park’s museum collection as well as audio content and some QTVR 360 degree photos of parts of the island.

www.alcatrazhistory.com
www.fortressalcatraz.com

These are two sites by authors that contain good information about Alcatraz.

The first site covers the penitentiary years (1934 - 1963) and contains a lot of information not otherwise available online, for example the text of the “Rules and Regulations” book given to all inmates, and a listing of all inmates from the penitentiary era.

The second site, by a former Alcatraz park ranger, concentrates on the military history of Alcatraz from 1850 to 1934.

Bureau of Prisons official site, contains some basic information on Alcatraz history (at http://www.bop.gov/about/history/alcatraz.jsp). Additional information is available here but generally hard to find unless you use the site search engine (for example, the FALLEN HEROS section contains information on Correctional Officers who died on the island in the line of duty).

The Federal Bureau of Investigation site contains information on “Famous Cases” in FBI history including some related to Alcatraz. A search will find some of the information they have available – but not all of it is obvious - for example go to their FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) site at http://foia.fbi.gov/room.htm to find entire files on persons and events related to Alcatraz history, like their files related to Alphonse Capone (2397 pages!). You almost need to know what you are looking for (by name of individual) though - for example there is information about former Alcatraz inmate Morton Sobel in the Julies and Ethel Rosenberg files if you know to look for it there.

www.alcatrazalumniassoc.org

These two sites are produced by former residents of Alcatraz and include a lot of good information including photographs from the island when it was a penitentiary. Many former residents return to the island early in August each year to meet with the public and share their stories. Call 415-561-4900 for more information on this annual gathering.

www.kqed.org
www.pbs.org

Both of these sites are for the Public Broadcasting Service and have Alcatraz sections related to videos – pbs.org related the WE HOLD THE ROCK (the American Indian occupation) and kqed.org related to the video LONELY ISLAND HIDDEN ALCATRAZ which is an overview of the island’s history. Use the site search engines to locate the Alcatraz sections. Also has Alcatraz teacher’s guides, links, etc.