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

by Charles Wilkinson Narrated by Jason Grasl

Overview

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. 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 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 oppose Native actions. These "fish wars" spurred twenty tribes and the United States government to file suit in federal court. 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 aftermath led from the Supreme Court's affirmation of Boldt's opinion to collaborative management of the harvest of salmon.



Treaty Justice weaves personalities and local detail into the definitive account of one of the twentieth century's most important civil rights cases.

Editorial Reviews

H-Net Reviews

"Charles Wilkinson not only aptly provides the larger historical context for what is arguably one of the most important court decisions of the twentieth century regarding rights but, more importantly, also conveys the human element. . . This is a book that can easily be used in a college classroom, demonstrating a case study of how legal decisions are made and why they matter. But it has real-world applications outside of academia for tribal governments, for environmentalists, and for anyone interested in the interplay between culture and treaty rights, making it usable for the general public."

Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard

"In time for the 50th anniversary of the landmark Boldt Decision, Wilkinson unlocks a unique view into the players and actions behind the fight for civil rights for tribes in the Pacific Northwest and the lasting significance of the decision which set a new legal precedent for the relationship between tribes, the federal government, and the states."

Anchorage Daily News

"Exceptionally well-researched and clearly written."

High Country News

"The first comprehensive, book-length account of all that led up to the landmark 1974 case, United States v. Washington, commonly known as "the Boldt Decision". . . There is probably no author better suited to recount this history than [Charles] Wilkinson."

Library Journal

02/05/2024

This book by Wilkinson (Blood Struggle: The Rise of Modern Indian Nations), who died in 2023, is a deeply sympathetic account of saving wild salmon. Indigenous peoples in Washington state had been responsibly reliant on salmon fishing for food and social status for more than 100 years. But when the state promoted the needs of the commercial salmon industry over the needs of the Indigenous nations, it resulted in the fishing wars and severe salmon depletion of the 1970s. The book begins with the ancestors of contemporary Pacific Northwest tribes, the original settlers of northern Washington. Decimated by disease transmitted by explorers, then marginalized by the United States, the tribes nevertheless clung to their traditions. Wilkinson describes the rushed 1854 treaty that allocated Indigenous people in Washington a share of fishing rights, a status that Native tribes had to reassert in the 1960s. The United States and 20 tribes, pushed by tribal elders and counsel, sued Washington state in federal court to reinforce the fishing rights of Indigenous peoples and won, in 1974, a decision granting the tribes collectively a 50-percent share of the wild salmon catch in the state. Wilkinson does an excellent job of explaining the factual basis that supported this decision, which the U.S. Supreme Court later upheld and which impacted Indigenous law and resource management across the United States. VERDICT Readers interested in the history of Indigenous peoples, the Pacific Northwest, and legal battles will enjoy this book.—Harry Charles

Product Details

BN ID:	2940192334010
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	10/01/2024
Edition description:	Unabridged