Treaty Justice:The Northwest Tribes, the Boldt Decision, and the Recognition of Fishing Rights

by: Charles Wilkinson (Author)

Publisher: University of Washington Press

Publication Date: 16 Jan. 2024

Language: English

Print Length: 296 pages

ISBN-10: 0295752726

ISBN-13: 9780295752723

Book Description

In 1974, Judge George Boldt issued a ruling that affirmed the fishing rights and tribal sovereignty of Native nations in Washington State. The Boldt Decision transformed Indigenous law and resource management across the United States and beyond. Like Brown v. Board of Education, the case also brought about far-reaching societal changes, reinforcing tribal sovereignty and remedying decades of injustice.Eminent legal historian and tribal advocate Charles Wilkinson tells the dramatic story of the Boldt Decision against the backdrop of salmon’s central place in the cultures and economies of the Pacific Northwest. In the 1960s, Native people reasserted their fishing rights as delineated in nineteenth-century treaties. In response, state officials worked with non-Indian commercial and sport fishing interests to forcefully―and often violently―oppose Native actions. These “fish wars” spurred twenty tribes and the US govement to file suit in federal court. Moved by the testimony of tribal leaders and other experts, Boldt pointedly waited until Lincoln’s birthday to hand down a decision recognizing the tribes’ right to half of the state’s fish. The case’s long aftermath led from the Supreme Court’s affirmation of Boldt’s opinion to collaborative management of the harvest of salmon and other marine resources.Expert and compelling, Treaty Justice weaves personalities and local detail into the definitive account of one of the twentieth century’s most important civil rights cases.

About the Author

Review "[E]xceptionally well-researched and clearly written." ― Anchorage Daily News Review "Charles Wilkinson has left us with a gift of great knowledge, just as the tribal elders he speaks of gave to us. His dedicated research will help present and future generations understand the cultural, political and legal resilience of the Boldt Decision. This book honors all those who fought for treaty fishing rights, the ancient traditions of the Northwest salmon people and their right to co-manage their fisheries as sovereign govement." -- Leonard Forsman, Chairman, Suquamish Tribe and ATNI President
About the Author
Charles Wilkinson is the Moses Lasky Professor of Law Emeritus at the University of Colorado. His fourteen books on law, history, and society in the American West include the standard law casebooks on Indian Law and Federal Public Land Law; The Eagle Bird:Mapping A New West (Pantheon Books, 1992); Fire on the Plateau:Conquest and Endurance in the American Southwest (Island Press, 1999); Messages from Frank’s Landing:A Story of Salmon, Treaties, and the Indian Way (University of Washington Press, 2000); Blood Struggle:The Rise of Mode Indian Nations (W.W. Norton & Co., 2005); and The People Are Dancing Again:The History of the Siletz Tribe of Weste Oregon (University of Washington Press, 2010). Read more