It was 60 seconds that changed Sacheen Littlefeather’s life. On March 27, 1973, the 26-year-old Apache/Yaqui woman walked onto a stage at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles and into the international spotlight.
The young woman dressed in a Northern buckskin dress rejected the Academy Award to Marlon Brando for The Godfather. The actress and activist calmly explained to 85 million people that it was due to "the treatment of American Indians today by the film industry."
Fifty years later and the Academy has apologized.
In this exclusive conversation with Unreserved host Rosanna Deerchild, Littlefeather recalls that famous moment, what led up to it, the fallout and what it all meant for the American Indian Movement and Indigenous people across Turtle Island in the five decades since.
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Named one of Audible's Best Canadian Podcasts of 2025. Join Rosanna Deerchild every Friday for vibrant conversations with our cousins, aunties, elders and heroes. Rosanna guides us on the path to better understanding our shared story. Together, we learn and unlearn, laugh and become gentler in all our relations.Our award-winning show is rooted in radio, where we’ve spent the last decade becoming a trusted space for Indigenous-led conversations.We are based in what is now known as Canada. Rosanna hails from O-Pipon-Na-Piwan Cree Nation at South Indian Lake in northern Manitoba, and now lives and works in Winnipeg (Treaty 1).