In the 1960s, Native Americans and their supporters began protesting Washington State laws restricting Native American fishing rights that had been granted in a series of treaties with the United States between 1854 and 1855. The Survival of the American Indian Society (SAIA), the NAACP, and the National Indian Youth Council (NIYC), coordinated a series of protests and peaceful demonstrations known at the time collectively as the "fish wars," which eventually led to the Boldt Decision (United States v. Washington, 1974), a federal ruling guaranteeing Washington tribes half the state's salmon and steelhead trout catch.
In this image Pierce County Prosecutor John McCutcheon is interviewed by reporters at the Pierce County Courthouse in Tacoma. McCutcheon released actor and political activist Marlon Brando, Jr. (1924-2004) and Episcopal clergyman John Yaryan without charging them after their arrest for participating in a "fish-in" on the Puyallup River.
Caption information source: http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/fish-ins.htm Caption information source: The Seattle Daily Times, March 2, 1964, page 1
ID Number: 1986.5.4414.8
Date: 1964
Physical Description: 1 acetate negative : b&w ; 4 x 5 in.
Additional Information: Digital copy of this item available thanks to funding from a 2016 Institute for Museum and Library Services grant.
