Background
Kemnitzer was born in Pasadena, California.
Kemnitzer was born in Pasadena, California.
University of Pennsylvania.
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. Kemnitzer began his academic career in the 1940s, studying public health at the University of California, Berkeley, but withdrew to become a brakeman on the Southern Pacific Railroad.
His experiences in the labor force led him to join the Communist Party United States of America. In the 1960s, he earned his doctorate in anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania, after writing a dissertation based on his experiences living among the Oglala Lakota on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
He subsequently became director of the Lakota Language and Culture Center. As an activist, Kemnitzer helped establish the first needle exchange programme in San Francisco"s Tenderloin district.
He also attempted to distribute condoms to Bohemian Grove attendees.