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Hall of Fame

Anne Mae Pictou Aquash

(Micmac: Naguset Eask)

(1945, Nova Scotia, Canada - 1975, S. Dakota,  USA)

Anne Mae was born on March 27, 1945 to Mary Ellen Pictou and Francis Thomas Levi in a small Indian village just out the town of Shubenacadie on Indian Brook 14, a Micmac Indian reserve in Hants County, Nova Scotia, Canada. Mary Ellen's second husband, Noel Spier, was a strong believer in the preservation of the Micmac culture. Anne Mae  was one of most prominent leaders of AIM, the American Indian Movement and very brave too. She was involved in teaching Indian children about their own history when she entered the TRIBES (Teaching and Research In Bicultural Education Schoolproject) program. She participated in the protesting and

occupation of the Mayflower 2 (a replica of the original) celebrations at Boston Harbor at Thanksgiving Day in 1970. In Boston she also joined in creating the Boston Indian Council (now known as the North American Indian Center of Boston). In 1972 she took part in the Trail of Broken Treaties Caravan to Washinton DC which led to the occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, after government officials refused to receive the petition. After that she joined in the Occupation of Wounded Knee in 1973 she married Nogeeshik Aquash. The notorious stand off in 1975 where two FBI agents and one native (Joe Stuntz) got killed made tentions grow inside AIM. Unfortunately to this day there has been a lot of fingerpointing between AIM members, while others believe that the FBI was behind her murder in December 1975. The two autopsies with complety different outcomes have only added to the mystery and we may never know the truth. Anyhow, this is not the place for this as she only deserves honour for what she has meant for her people and her great leadership in the American Indian Movement.

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