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Washington State Tribal Members declared a new holiday this week to honor and celebrate Billy Frank, Jr. a Nisqually Tribal member, for his conservation efforts and work restoring treaty fishing rights.
“He saved the salmon that had fed his family for generations,” President Obama said when awarding Frank the Presidential Medal
of Freedom. “He was spat on, shot at, chased, clubbed and cast as an outlaw, but Billy kept fighting because he knew he was right.”
Arrest at 14 Sparks Life as an Outlaw
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Thanks to photographer Bob Coleman for sharing this photo showing the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge, so to be re-named the Billy Frank, Jr. Wildlife Refuge.
The Nisqually river ran through Billy's back yard, and he grew up an expert fisherman, knowing every current and the time and seasons by the patterns of nature, such as the salmon coming back to spawn.
The Medicine Creek Treaty had guaranteed Washington tribes the right to fish in their "usual and accustomed places back in 1854. But in 1945 Billy was was arrested for "illegal fishing" by state fish & game
wardens.
That morning, the 14-year-old boy knew he’d have to fight for his right to fish, for his the culture and his heritage.
He would become a leader in the civil disobedience movement pushing for tribal treaty rights over the next 30 years.
The photo at right shows Billy during in stint in the U.S. Marines during the Korean War. But when he returned, things hadn't changed. His boats and nets were confiscated, he lived like an outlaw, fishing at night, always on the lookout for men in uniforms.
He was "chased and tear-gassed, tackled, punched, pushed face-first
into the mud, handcuffed and dragged soaking wet to the country jail."
There would be protests at the state Capitol, a full-scale riot on the banks of the Puyallup River in 1970, myriad lawsuits and finally a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 1979 before the so-called fish wars in Washington were resolved.
In the following decades Billy Frank Jr. worked on conservation efforts to restore and protect Puget Sound, united local
tribes and became a national voice for Indian Country. At right, Billy Frank, Jr. in his later years. After his death in 2014, President Obama posthumously awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor that can be given a US civilian.
A new school curriculum on tribal treaty fishing rights and salmon conservation has been developed for free download and use by teachers.
The
lessons are intended to supplement history and science classes, middle through high school and include videos and historical photos.
Today's the big cover reveal on social media for Irena's Children Young
Readers Edition! If you're on Facebook, check and see if you have *Liked* my author page. I'm planning a PURE GRIT give-away the first week of May
in celebration of National Nurses Week, that will happen on my Author Facebook Page, so hope to see you there!
To mark International Women's Day, here's an article from NPR about how suffragettes used cookbooks as a recipe for subversion. Read it here... |
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