‘Defenders and Dissidents: Cooks Landing and the Fight to Define Tribal Sovereignty in the Red Power Era’

Abstract

The 'Fish Wars' in the Pacific Northwest during the 1960s and 1970s hold an important yet predictable place within the historiography of the Red Power movement. In standard works, the fish-ins and other protests serve as a prelude to the larger pan-Indian struggle that seized public attention after the occupation of Alcatraz. The fight for treaty fishing rights thus serves as a proving ground for individuals like Hank Adams and organizations like the National Indian Youth Council, thereby shifting our attention from long-running issues and local actors to the events and figures that defined Red Power nationally and internationally. Moreover, historians generally have emphasized the Salish Sea (Puget Sound) region and the conflict among state, federal, and tribal governments rather than contemporaneous debates within and between Native nations. This study highlights several significant but slighted points regarding the Northwest fishing rights controversy. Focusing on Treaty Indians of the Columbia and their resistance to tribal regulation, my analysis illustrates that treaty rights could divide as well as unite Indians on multiple levels; that specific tribal struggles preceded the national pan-Indian movement and proceeded alongside; and that the Fish Wars were a crucial period in the history of tribal state-building.