Jo An Yellow Bird

AKA: Jo Ann Yellow Bird
Released
Full name:Jo Bird
Gender:Female
Race:Native American
Era:1970s
State:Nebraska
Time Imprisoned:
2 Days
Support
American Indian Movement
Jo An Yellow Bird

Biography

Jo An Yellow Bird was an American Indian Movement activist married to Nebraska AIM coordinator Bob Yellow Bird. On September 15, 1976, police in Gordon, Nebraska arrested Jo An Yellow Bird and her husband Bob. The Black Panther reported that an officer kicked her in the stomach; officers took both to jail and she received medical examination and hospital transfer after three hours. The report said she lost her pregnancy at Pine Ridge hospital on September 29. It does not establish her custody release date or final case disposition. Source: The Black Panther, November 6, 1976, p. 10.

Diane Payne’s December 1979 Friends Journal account identifies Jo Ann Yellow Bird as a community organizer against selective law enforcement and police brutality in Gordon, Nebraska. It recounts her September 1976 arrest, transfer from Sheridan County Jail for medical care, and the later civil-rights lawsuit. A North Platte jury awarded $300,000 against the city of Gordon and Officer Clifford Valentine in July 1979; the city and officer appealed. The medical transfers do not establish her departure from custody.

Friends Journal, December 1, 1979, volume25 no.20, PDF page 8; Friends Journal, December 1, 1979, volume25 no.20, PDF page 9; Friends Journal, December 1, 1979, volume25 no.20, PDF page 10.

Cases

Charges: Malicious destruction of property
Sentence: Arrest documented, but exact custody dates and final disposition have not been located.
Charges: Disorderly conduct following an earlier 1976 confrontation at her home; originally also accused of resisting and abusing an officer.
Sentence: Served two days for disorderly conduct in 1976, before the separate September 15 arrest. Exact admission and release dates are not established. W. Dale Mason describes the plea and actual two days served in his account of AIM organizing in Nebraska. Source: https://www.oocities.org/lakotastudentalliance/lsa2_onlykicksolong.html
Convicted: Yes
Plead: Pleaded to the lesser offense of disorderly conduct
Charges: Disorderly conduct following the September 15, 1976 confrontation outside the Sheridan Hotel and Lounge in Gordon, Nebraska.
Arrested: Sep 15, 1976
Incarcerated: Sep 15, 1976
Sentence: Arrested and taken in handcuffs to the county jail in Rushville on September 15, 1976. After several hours in jail she was taken to Gordon Memorial Hospital and then referred to the Pine Ridge hospital. Mason reports later hospital discharge on condition she not be returned to jail, but gives no exact discharge date. Hospitalization is not recorded here as a measured prison sentence. This is separate from the earlier two-day disorderly-conduct term. Source: https://www.oocities.org/lakotastudentalliance/lsa2_onlykicksolong.html

Related Cases

Bob Yellow Bird John Graham John Graham Leonard Peltier Leonard Peltier Sid Welsh Sid Welsh Kamook Banks Kamook Banks Nilak Butler Nilak Butler Darrelle Dean “Dino” Butler Darrelle Dean “Dino” Butler Robert Robideau Robert Robideau