Littlefeather created history once she stepped on stage at the 1973 Oscars on behalf of “The Godfather” star Brando, United Nations agency determined to boycott the award ceremony in protest at the portrayal of Native Americans on the massive screen. Brando was conjointly reacting to the response of federal enforcement to the occupation of the South Dakota city of Wounded Knee by members of the yank Indian Movement.
Her short speech, that she wore a buckskin dress and moccasins, was met with a combination of boos and hand clapping. It price the budding thespian, whose film credits enclosed “Winterhawk,” “Shoot the Sun Down” and “The Trial of Billy Jack,” her career as she was shortly blacklisted from the movie industry and shunned by the recreation world.
In August, the Academy formally apologized to Littlefeather for the practice she tough throughout her speech and within the years that followed.
A letter from former Academy President David Rubin to Littlefeather aforesaid the abuse she endured was “unwarranted and unwarranted.”
He added: “The emotional burden you have got lived through and also the price to your own career in our business area unit irreparable. For too long the courageousness you showed has been unacknowledged. For this, we provide each our deepest apologies and our sincere admiration.”
Describing the apology as a “dream come back true,” Littlefeather said: “We Indians area unit terribly patient folks – it’s solely been fifty years!
“We have to be compelled to keep our sense of humor concerning this in the least times. It’s our methodology of survival,” she accessorial.
Last month, the Academy hosted an occasion at its film deposit in l. a. that featured Littlefeather as a keynote speaker aboard different native performers.