UNIT 18 • STAGE 2 OF 7
The Shift
Build the context section: Civil Rights movement backdrop, Native activism timeline, and the federal response
The Shift Section: What Changed and Why
This section documents the conditions that drove federal policy to change direction. The Termination Era ended not with a single repeal but with a shift in the political climate. The Civil Rights movement created a national framework for questioning discriminatory federal policies. Native activism in the late 1960s and early 1970s applied that framework directly to Tribal sovereignty and federal Indian policy. Together, they produced the political pressure that led to the legislation of the Self-Determination Era.
The Shift section has three parts: the activism events grid, the Wounded Knee II note box, and the federal response callout. Add it to the #the-shift stub in your HTML.
Nixon's 1970 message to Congress
In July 1970, President Nixon sent a special message to Congress on Indian affairs. He explicitly rejected termination: "The time has come to break decisively with the past and to create the conditions for a new era in which the Indian future is determined by Indian acts and Indian decisions." He called for Tribal self-determination without termination. This was a significant policy shift. The legislation that followed over the next twenty-four years was the implementation of that principle.
New CSS: The Activism Grid
Add the section wrapper, heading, and three activism cards. The .activism-year uses clamp() so the year number scales with the viewport, consistent with the stat numbers in Unit 16 Stage 3.
.section-inner { max-width: 1160px; margin: 0 auto; padding: 0 48px; }
.section-label { font-size: 0.6875rem; font-weight: 700; letter-spacing: 0.14em; text-transform: uppercase; color: var(--text-muted); margin-bottom: 10px; }
.section-heading { font-family: 'Playfair Display', Georgia, serif; font-size: clamp(2rem, 4vw, 3rem); font-weight: 900; line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 16px; }
.section-body { font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.75; color: var(--text-dim); max-width: 700px; margin-bottom: 56px; }
.activism-grid { display: grid; grid-template-columns: repeat(3, 1fr); gap: 20px; margin-bottom: 32px; }
.activism-card { background: var(--bg-card); border: 1px solid var(--gold-border); border-radius: 12px; padding: 28px 24px; }
.activism-year { font-family: 'Playfair Display', Georgia, serif; font-size: clamp(2rem, 3vw, 2.5rem); font-weight: 900; line-height: 1; color: var(--gold); margin-bottom: 12px; }
.activism-title { font-size: 1rem; font-weight: 700; color: var(--text-light); margin-bottom: 10px; }
.activism-body { font-size: 0.875rem; line-height: 1.65; color: var(--text-dim); }
Three activism cards to build:
- AIM , 1968: American Indian Movement founded in Minneapolis by Dennis Banks, Clyde Bellecourt, Eddie Benton-Banai, and George Mitchell. Formed in direct response to police targeting of Native people in the Twin Cities, many of whom had arrived through the BIA relocation program.
- Alcatraz , 1969: Indians of All Tribes occupied the abandoned federal prison from November 1969 to June 1971, citing the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. Led by Richard Oakes and LaNada Means, the occupation drew national attention to Tribal sovereignty.
- Trail of Broken Treaties , 1972: A national caravan of Native activists traveled to Washington, D.C., arriving before the 1972 presidential election. They presented a 20-point position paper demanding restoration of treaty rights and Tribal sovereignty. The BIA building was occupied for a week.
New CSS: The Wounded Knee II Note Box
After the activism grid, add a note box that names Wounded Knee II and explains that it gets its own dedicated unit. The border-left accent pattern signals importance without making it the main subject.
background: var(--bg-card);
border: 1px solid var(--gold-border);
border-left: 4px solid var(--gold); /* 4px replaces 1px on the left side */
border-radius: 0 12px 12px 0; /* flat left, rounded right */
padding: 24px 28px 24px 24px;
margin-bottom: 48px;
}
.wk2-note p { font-size: 0.9375rem; line-height: 1.7; color: var(--text-dim); margin: 0; }
Wounded Knee II (1973)
In February 1973, members of AIM and the Oglala Sioux Tribe occupied the town of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Reservation for 71 days. Two people were killed during the standoff with federal marshals and FBI agents. The occupation demanded the honoring of the Fort Laramie Treaty, an investigation of the BIA, and the removal of Tribal chairman Dick Wilson, whose government was accused of corruption and political violence. This event is one of the most significant confrontations between Native people and the federal government in the twentieth century. It gets its own dedicated unit in this series because it deserves that depth.
New CSS: The Federal Response
Close the section with a card documenting what the political pressure produced: Nixon's 1970 rejection of termination and the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975 as the cornerstone legislation that followed.
.pr-heading { font-family: 'Playfair Display', Georgia, serif; font-size: clamp(1.5rem, 2.5vw, 2rem); font-weight: 900; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 16px; }
.pr-body p { font-size: 0.9375rem; line-height: 1.75; color: var(--text-dim); margin-bottom: 1em; }
.pr-body p:last-child { margin-bottom: 0; }
Stage 2 Complete!
The Shift section is built: activism context, Wounded Knee II note, and the federal policy response. Stage 3 is the most technically active stage in this unit: the filterable legislation card grid. You will write the JavaScript filter for the first time.
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