Founded in 1969, the American Indian Studies program at CSULB attracted a wide range of native community-based activists as well as non-native students interested in American Indian culture and society. Women played a very prominent role both in departmental activities and in planning campus events. Although there was no sustained plan to collect oral histories, the women taking courses in American Indian studies and in women's studies frequently chose to interview their classmates and family friends. Some of these interviews are incorporated into the American Indian Lives series, although not all of them are full-length life histories. In more recent years, a newer member of the faculty has been conducting interviews on the occupation of Alcatraz. A series comprised of at least some of these interviews will eventually be added to the American Indian Studies Collection.