Free Leonard Peltier

… and all other political prisoners who are unjustly held captive!

History of the Winged Free Leonard Peltier Spirit Mask and Puppet

The Winged Free Leonard Peltier Spirit Mask was created in 1992 for a cultural festival and parade in Jamaica Plain, Boston, at a time when many people were celebrating 500 years of Indigenous survival and trying to call attention to the ongoing oppression of Indigenous People and Indigenous leadership on Turtle Island. The actual puppet/mask was constructed and brought to life by creative artists and cultural revolutionaries associated with “Spontaneous Celebrations” a community empowerment through art organization in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston after Dennis Banks – who lived in Boston during the 1990s – visited the home of Spontaneous Celebrations and spoke about Leonard’s unjust incarceration and the history of the Massachusett People who lived around Jamaica Plain, which was named after a Massachusett sachem, Kuchamakin. In 1995, Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council President, Russell M.Peters, wrote of Spontaneous Celebrations that he was “particularly impressed with the attention paid to Native American issues … and to the Leonard Peltier puppet…”

The Free Leonard Peltier mask has been to big Climate March demonstrations in New York and Massachusetts. Dennis Moynihan – then of NPR- took Leonard to the White House where he was photographed on the front lawn. For many years Leonard was carried during the Wake Up the Earth Festival in Boston and at Boston’s First Night Parade. Leonard’s Winged Spirit has traveled over 20,000 miles and has been to Pine Ridge, Wounded Knee, and Oak Flat. The mask also spent a week encamped at Standing Rock in 2016. Many repairs have been made to Leonard’s mask over the years. Most recently his face was repainted by the famed Uruguayan artist, Roberto Ciao.

Leonard’s allies in Massachusetts – including Spontaneous Celebrations and the Massachusetts Peace and Justice Community – hope at this time in Leonard’s life – Fall 2023 – to gift the Free Leonard Peltier mask/puppet/winged spirit to the Lakota People.