Sacheen Littlefeather became the first Native American to take the stage at the Academy Awards in 1973, on behalf of Marlon Brando. Her passionate 60-second speech resulted in her being professionally boycotted, personally attacked and harassed, and discriminated against for the last 50 years
Sacheen Littlefeather appears at the Academy Awards ceremony to announce that Marlon Brando was declining his Oscar as best actor for his role in “The Godfather,” on March 27, 1973. AP
Nearly 50 years after Native American activist and actor Sacheen Littlefeather made a groundbreaking speech at the 1973 Oscars, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has apologised to her.
Littlefeather went onstage on behalf of Marlon Brando who was announced the winner for his performance in The Godfather. However, while delivering the speech on Brando’s behalf she was booed off the stage, an event that has remained a blot on the Academy’s history.
In a letter addressed to the actor, David Rubin, President of the Academy, called the abuse “unwarranted and unjustified”. He wrote, “The emotional burden you have lived through and the cost to your own career in our industry are irreparable.”
The Academy said that it has invited Littlefeather for a “very special program of conversation, reflection, healing, and celebration” on 17 September.
“Regarding the Academy’s apology to me, we Indians are very patient people–it’s only been 50 years! We need to keep our sense of humor about this at all times. It’s our method of survival,” Littlefeather said in a statement released by the Academy.
Why was Sacheen Littlefeather booed off the stage?
The 1973 Oscars witnessed a few firsts in its history as Littlefeather, then 26, became the first Native American to take the stage at the Academy Awards. It was also the first time a political statement was made at the Oscars.
Littlefeather, wearing a traditional buckskin dress, took to the stage on behalf of Marlon Brando who had won the best actor award for The Godfather.
Brando’s absence was a show of protest against the industry’s portrayal of the Native American tribes of the US. And his speech, read by Littlefeather, was but a part of that protest.
In an iconic 60-second speech, Littlefeather said that Brando could not accept the award because of “the treatment of American Indians today by the film industry”.
She opened the speech by saying, “I’m Sacheen Littlefeather. I’m Apache and I’m President of the National Native American Affirmative Image Committee.
“I’m representing Marlon Brando this evening and he has asked me to tell you in a very long speech, which I cannot share with you presently because of time but I will be glad to share with the press afterwards.”
She went on to say that “Brando very regretfully cannot accept this very generous award. And the reasons for this being the treatment of American Indians today by the film industry and on television in movie re-runs, and also with recent happenings at Wounded Knee.”
“I beg at this time I have not intruded upon this evening and that we will, in the future, our hearts and our understandings will meet with love and generosity. Thank you on behalf of Marlon Bando,” she ended the speech to a mix of applause and jeers from the crowd of people from the film industry.
Littlefeather was nearly hauled off by actor John Wayne, she said in an interview with the BBC. She explained that the presence of two security guards with her as well as six more kept Wayne away from her as Wayne was “furious with Marlon and furious with me.”
What was the aftermath of the speech?
She later said in the documentary Sacheen: Breaking the Silence, that the speech ended her career in Hollywood as she was blacklisted by the industry.
The moment resulted in her being professionally boycotted, personally attacked and harassed, and discriminated against for the last 50 years.
In an interview with A.frame, the Academy’s digital magazine, Littlefeather said: “I knew that I paid the price of admission so that others could follow. That I had done something, that I was the first to make a statement, a political statement. The first Native American Indian woman, the first woman of color to ever make a statement at the Academy Awards, telling the truth about the way that it really is. Not the second, not the third, not the fourth, but the first one–and that will always historically be true.”
What has the Academy said?
In a letter dated 18 June, 2022, David Rubin, President, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said that her statement continues to remind of the necessity of respect and the importance of human dignity.
“As you stood on the Oscars stage in 1973 to not accept the Oscar on behalf of Marlon Brando, in recognition of the misrepresentation and mistreatment of Native American people by the film industry, you made a powerful statement that continues to remind us of the necessity of respect and the importance of human dignity.”
He acknowledged that the abuse she endured because of this statement was “unwarranted and unjustified”.
“The emotional burden you have lived through and the cost to your own career in our industry are irreparable. For too long the courage you showed has been unacknowledged. For this, we offer both our deepest apologies and our sincere admiration,” he said.With inputs from agencies
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