Photo

Painting courtesy of Jan Attridge

Jan Attridge painted this picture of Clyde Bellecourt, the recently deceased co-founder of the American Indian Movement. AIM began in 1968 in Minneapolis. Many remember the armed confrontation with the government at Wounded Knee, but less well-known was that by the early 1980’s AIM had formed health care clinics, two schools, treatment centers and worked to get native children from foster care and back into their communities. Bellecourt also started the Peacemaker Center in south Minneapolis. The center worked with children of the community to orient kids to nature and the outdoors, among other things.

Clyde’s Anishinaabe name was Nee-gon-we-waywe dun, which means Thunder Before the Storm. Jan worked with AIM from 1978 – 2000, documenting individuals and situations. “Clyde and I were friends, and he used my paintings for all kinds of reasons,” said Jan.

Clyde died of cancer on January 11, 2022. He was 85 and he was the last surviving co-founder of AIM. The other three cofounders were Dennis Banks, George Mitchell, and Eddie Benton-Banal.