In 1975, Annie Mae Pictou Aquash, a 30-year-old Nova Scotia born-Mi'kmaq, was shot dead, execution style, on a desolate road in South Dakota. Nearly three decades later the crime remains a mystery. Aquash was highly placed in the American Indian Movement (AIM), a radical First Nations organization that took up arms in the 1970s to fight for the rights of their people. The Spirit of Annie Mae is the story of Aquash's remarkable life and her brutal murder. It is a moving tribute from the women who were closest to her: the two daughters who fled with their mother when …
AIM, the American Indian Movement, arose during a time of much civil rights activism in the United States. Compare and contrast its goals with those of other civil rights groups. Why was the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation historically significant to U.S.–Native American relations? How did the Pine Ridge Incident raise awareness of how the settlement of the U.S. affected Native Americans? What questions does this film raise about Annie Mae’s contribution to AIM and about her eventual murder?