More than 500 people gathered at the Sky Dancer Event Center on Wednesday afternoon to welcome Leonard Peltier , a member of the American Indian Movement , back to his homeland after 49 years of incarceration.

After 49 years in prison, Native American activist Leonard Peltier was released on Feb. 18. And now his Indigenous community is celebrating with a “welcome home” event. The Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians citizen and former American Indian Movement (AIM) activist had been serving two life sentences for the 1975 killings of two FBI agents

Tuesday is a historic day in the Native American community after well-known Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier​ was released from a Florida prison to serve out his sentence at home in North Dakota.

It's been 49 years straight in prison for something I didn't do,” Leonard Peltier said, close to tears. “I didn't think I was going to make it.”