War Jack majored in Native American Law and Politics at UC Berkeley and participated in the Third Worlds Strike as a student. At Berkeley, she began the first Native American Studies program in the country with other students. War Jack was also part of the negotiation team that assisted with creating The Department of Ethnic Studies in 1969. Later that same year, she participated in the organization of the nineteen-month Occupation of Alcatraz: a peaceful protest where almost 100 Native Americans (plus other supporters) inhabited Alcatraz Island. Deynon Means, War Jack’s son, and Claudene Boyer, her sister, came too. Students from other universities and colleges in California also participated. 