Disputed Alcatraz invasion flag on block
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Sometime during the 19-month American Indian occupation of Alcatraz that began in 1969, a banner called Old Glory's Helper Flag flew from one of the island's guard towers.
Whether the tepee-emblazoned flag flew for 10 minutes, 10 months, or more, no one seems to know for sure. But Thursday, the flag, designed by Lulie Nall, a Penobscot Indian who struggled for years to promote it as a American Indian symbol until her death in 1983, is expected to sell for between $100,000 and $150,000 at an auction in San Francisco, according to an auction house.
"It's not just a flag. It's a moment in history," said Bruce MacMakin, a senior vice president with PBA Galleries on Kearny Street, an auction house that specializes in Americana. PBA Galleries is auctioning the flag on behalf of Daniel Hagar, a Florida man identified as the stepson of Nall's nephew.
In the past week, as word has spread among American Indians about the auction of the flag, Nall has been called both a peace activist and an opportunist. Her flag has been deemed insignificant by some and a historical artifact by others. The occupation's key organizers do not seem to remember her or the flag, yet most agree that Old Glory's Helper should be preserved.
Nall was living in North Beach as a housewife, seamstress and unlucky 56-year-old entrepreneur when she came up with the idea for Old Glory's Helper. As a Penobscot Indian, she wanted to promote the flag as a symbol of unity honoring American Indians, according to paperwork that will accompany the flag.
She had been working on the flag's design for more than a year when, in November 1969, an inter-tribal group of American Indians invaded Alcatraz, claiming the island as Indian property. It wasn't the first attempt by American Indians to claim the island, but it proved to be the most momentous in the American Indian civil rights movement of the 20th century.
Inspired by Indian leaders Richard Oakes, Adam Fortunate Eagle Nordwall and John Trudell, American Indians from across the nation flocked to the Bay Area to take part in the movement. Among the estimated 10,000 to 15,000 who spent time on Alcatraz during the occupation that ended in June 1971, some had a genuine interest in fighting for their civil rights, while others were just looking to have a good time. Most were young.
Nall was equally inspired. With $80 earned from selling restored antique hats and worn-out jeans, Nall took her red-and-white-striped design to the Paramount Flag Co. in San Francisco.
"Red represents the American Indian who shares his tepee with fifty state governments. Yellow, Black and Brown people are represented in the fields they help toil and join. ... The gap in the tepee represents the last gap of discrimination," Nall wrote in notes about the flag, which include years of unfinished planning, failed marketing plans and copies of unanswered letters to celebrities, including Marlon Brando.
Although the exact date is unknown, Nall visited Alcatraz during the occupation and delivered Old Glory's Helper. A personal snapshot in PBA Galleries' files shows a conservatively dressed Nall handing the flag over to the men who raised it. There is also a Jan. 8, 1970, photograph of Old Glory's Helper published in The Chronicle with an article headlined "Factionalism and Feuds," but the story makes no mention of the flag.
What flag?
"I have never heard of Miss Nall, and I have never seen that flag," said Nordwall, a 78-year-old Chippewa Indian identified by the FBI as the principal organizer of the Alcatraz occupation. "That flag was never a symbol of Indian resistance and not a symbol of Alcatraz. It was simply an accessory as far as I can tell."
Nordwall, who lives on a reservation in Nevada, formed a group called Indians of All Tribes of Alcatraz and recruited a young Mohawk and San Francisco State College student named Richard Oakes to help plot the 1969 invasion. The activists chose the isolated but well-known island to ensure a nonviolent takeover and to maximize media coverage,
Nordwall said. Although Nordwall didn't spend any nights on Alcatraz, he regularly visited during the occupation for meetings.
Nordwall is irked by the sale of the flag. "On the one hand, Miss Nall seems to have wanted to exploit and commercialize the occupation for her own personal gain," he said. "At the same time, it is doing a service to draw attention to the importance of the 19-month occupation of Alcatraz."
John Trudell, a Santee Sioux Indian who rose to a leadership role during the occupation, declined to be interviewed for this story. In a statement issued through his publicist, Trudell said that he has "no memory whatsoever of Lulie Nall or of her flag." Trudell also said that he does not support the sale of the flag and feels that it should be donated to a museum.
Ed Castillo, professor and director of Native American studies at Sonoma State University, visited the island for eight weeks during the occupation when he was 21 and just out of college.
"I vaguely remember the flag, but I don't think I ever saw it up close," said Castillo. "It doesn't stand out in my memory as the main visual statement. There was quite a lot of graffiti and other types of expression going on. I remember seeing lots of upside down American flags on the island meant to symbolize an international distress situation."
Blackfeet Indian Joe Lonewalker Morris, a longshoreman, joined the occupation in 1969. An artist, Morris spent much of his time on the island painting and organizing artistic endeavors. Morris doesn't recall Nall's flag either, but said he did bring one of his own - a blue Blackfeet Nation flag.
"That's the only flag I remember," said Morris.
On Jan. 5, 1970 - the same week The Chronicle published a picture of Old Glory's Helper - Time magazine had a story headlined "New Flag Over Alcatraz." The story describes yet another flag: "They have raised their own flag over Alcatraz: a broken peace pipe and crimson tepee emblazoned on a field of azure."
That some of the key leaders don't recall Nall or her flag doesn't surprise Craig Glassner, a National Parks Ranger who has worked on Alcatraz for the past 15 years.
"There may have been upwards of 15,000 people who came and went on the island during the occupation. Some who came in the beginning never met those who came at the end," said Glassner.
The nephew's stepson
Hagar, a 55-year-old disabled and retired veteran with no American Indian blood, inherited the flag from his stepfather, Matt Faircloth, in the late 1980s. Hagar never met Nall and saw the flag only a couple of times at his stepfather's house. But Hagar was intrigued by Nall and her flag, though admittedly he knew little about the woman other than that she was an artist living in San Francisco and his stepfather's favorite aunt.
"My grandfather was a fairly famous archaeologist named William Bebee, and I remember being a kid going on digs with him and finding arrowheads and things like that," said Hagar. "I've always been interested in the subject. But the flag has been in my closet for years. It belongs in a museum or something. If someone is willing to pay a lot of money for it, then they're obviously going to take better care of it than I can."
A couple of years ago, Hagar, who is recovering from multiple strokes and is in need of money to supplement his retirement, brought the flag to Sotheby's in Massachusetts. He said they gave Hagar a verbal appraisal of $150,000 to $250,000 but refused to sell it.
"They said that it was such an historical piece and it should be in a museum like the Smithsonian, which I agree with," said Hagar.
Hagar then sent letters to about 10 celebrities offering to sell them the flag along with the provenance of paperwork and notes left behind by Nall. He contacted Kevin Costner, Nick Nolte and Paul Newman, among others. Hagar heard back only from Costner, who declined the offer.
He then took Nall's flag to two large Indian gaming casinos in Connecticut. Neither were interested; their representatives said it didn't pertain to their tribes. Hagar then contacted several American Indian museums around the country.
"They were all hot about it - but only if I'd give it to them for free," said Hagar, who connected with PBA Galleries last summer.
MacMakin acknowledged that it was difficult for PBA Galleries to evaluate the unique flag. He likened it to lithograph of an abolitionist rabbi from New Orleans in the Civil War who was mocked as a "Lincoln lover." Bidding for the lithograph began at around $1,500. It ended up selling for $110,000.
At 1 p.m. Thursday, PBA Galleries will open bidding for the flag at $50,000, half the low estimate, which is standard for auctions, MacMakin said.
The gallery will collect 10 percent of the price and a 15 percent premium from the buyer. There has been early interest from several potential buyers, mostly private collectors.
It is difficult to determine what Nall would have thought about the sale of her flag. She has no known survivors and spent the last years of her life caring for her dying husband.
"Her husband, John, had some kind of vertigo disease and couldn't walk," said George Weaver a longtime custodian at Nall's apartment building on Stockton Street. Weaver knew nothing about the flag. "I think they lived off of his disability check and whatever money she made from sewing clothes and selling them at flea markets."
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The biggest clues to Nall's personality and her project are in the piles of notes and copies of letters she left behind with the flag. In a July 15, 1975, letter to longtime Bay Area news anchor Dave McElhatton, she wrote:
"What really bugs me is after so much work to create my flag that I have been unable to penetrate the walls of the right places to give my flag a true testing. I almost cry when I see it folded in the attache case waiting to be seen. With the Bicentennial just about here, I feel it is now or never. And I am hoping by writing to you, you may have some ideas or know someone who might be able to steer me in the right direction to put OLD GLORY'S HELPER FLAG to work."
As ever
Lulie V. Nall.
Chronicle librarian Johnny Miller contributed to this report. E-mail Delfin Vigil at dvigil@sfchronicle.com.
This article appeared on page A - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle+++++++++++++++++++++
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This article appeared on page A - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle
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