Alcatraz Island is located in the San Francisco Bay, offshore from
San Francisco,
California,
United States. The small island was developed with facilities for a
lighthouse, a military fortification, a military prison (1868), and a
federal prison from 1933 until 1963. Beginning in November 1969, the island was occupied for more than 19 months by a group of
aboriginal people from San Francisco who were part of a wave of Native
activism across the nation with public protests through the 1970s. In 1972, Alcatraz became a national recreation area and received designation as a
National Historic Landmark in 1986.