In There There, characters Opal and Jacquie are brought to the Occupation of Alcatraz protest by their mother when they are children. Organized by Mohawk activist Richard Oakes, Shoshone-Bannock activist LaNada Means, and other Indigenous American leaders, the Occupation of Alcatraz lasted 19 months from November 20, 1969 to June 11, 1971. Protesting under the name “Indians of all Tribes” (IOAT), the activists claimed that, in accordance with the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie, Indigenous Americans may lawfully reclaim any abandoned or out-of-use federal land. That included Alcatraz Island, the old site of a federal penitentiary which the government closed in 1963. More broadly, the protest was designed to raise awareness of the US’s “Indian termination policy” of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, which sought to eliminate Indigenous culture through total assimilation into mainstream American society.

At its peak, the Occupation attracted 400 protesters. But by May 1970, the protest had begun to collapse. Many of the student organizers returned to their universities, and opposing views and approaches between Russell Means and Santee-Dakota activist John Trudell led to fractures in the group’s leadership. With the Occupation in a weakened state, the US government isolated the protesters from the public by cutting off phone service and electrical power to the island.