Bill Frank Jr. (1931 - 2014)

Mon Mar 09, 1931

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William Frank Jr., born on this day in 1931, was an indigenous environmental leader and treaty rights activist known for his use of the “fish-in”, a civil disobedience tactic used to win indigenous rights to natural resources.

A Nisqually tribal member, Frank is particularly known for his grassroots campaign for fishing rights on the tribe’s Nisqually River. Frank was arrested more than 50 times in the “Fish Wars” of the 1960s and 1970s because of his intense dedication to the treaty fishing rights cause.

The tribal struggle was taken to the courts in “U.S. v. Washington”, with federal judge George Hugo Boldt issuing a ruling in favor of the native tribes in 1974. The “Boldt Decision” established the 20 treaty Indian tribes in western Washington as co-managers of the salmon resource with the State of Washington, and re-affirmed tribal rights to half of the harvestable salmon returning to western Washington.