About: Luis Kemnitzer

Luis Stowell Kemnitzer (November 13, 1928 in Pasadena, California– February 17, 2006) was an American anthropologist known for his social and political activism. From 1967 to 1994, Kemnitzer was a professor at San Francisco State University, where in 1969 he taught that institution's first course in American Indian Studies. In this role, Kemnitzer visited Alcatraz Island during its occupation—which had been partially planned in his classroom, and among whose participants were some of his students (including Richard Oakes) — to provide logistical advice on how to set up educational programs for Native American children on the island.