If you’d like to learn more about the Fort Lawton protests of 1970, and how they fit into larger currents of 20th century Native organizing, here are a few resources to get you started.
“Bernie Whitebear: An Urban Indian’s Quest for Justice”: A biography of activist and key Fort Lawton organizer Bernie Whitebear (Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, Sinixt Band), written by his brother, the artist and author Lawney Reyes.
“A Journey to Freedom: Richard Oakes, Alcatraz, and the Red Power Movement”: Scholar Kent Blansett (Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Shawnee and Potawatomi) traces the short and dramatic life of activist Richard Oakes (Akwesasne Mohawk) and how it intersected with the Red Power movement, including the occupations at Alcatraz and Fort Lawton.
“As Long as the Rivers Run”: This 1971 documentary by Carol Burns and Hank Adams (Assiniboine-Sioux), about the treaty fishing struggles in South Puget Sound, is available online via salmondefense.org.
“Messages from Frank’s Landing”: An in-depth but reader-friendly exploration of the legal, cultural and historical forces at play in the fishing-rights fights along the rivers in South Puget Sound, written by Charles Wilkinson, a legal scholar and longtime associate of activist Billy Frank Jr. (Nisqually).
Indian Center News digitized archives: From 1960 to 1971, the American Indian Women’s Service League published an extraordinary newsletter combining hyperlocal coverage (cultural events, youth sports), pertinent state and national news, news analysis, recipes, reprints of 19th-century treaties, traditional stories from elders and much more. It’s available online, courtesy of the University of Washington Civil Rights and Labor History Project.
“Our History is the Future: Standing Rock versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance”: A history of resistance, setting Fort Lawton in a longer arc of activism, by historian Nick Estes (Kul Wicasa, Lower Brule Sioux).
“Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto”: A 1969 collection of wry and fierce essays by Vine Deloria (Standing Rock Sioux) that help bring Native history, culture and campaigns for self-determination to national attention.
“Chief Seattle and the Town that Took His Name”: This biography of Chief Seattle, by David Buerge, explores the life and changing world of the Duwamish and Suquamish leader, from pre-settler events to boomtown years.
“Native Seattle: Histories from the Crossing-Over Place”: “Every American city was built on Indian land, but few advertise it like Seattle.” With this opening sentence, historian Coll Thrush begins his study of the city and its conflicting relationship with Indigenous communities, which has lurched between dependence, hostility, fetishization and erasure.
