Billy Frank Jr.: A World Treasure (1931- 2014)

“I was the go-to-jail guy.” That’s how Billy Frank, Jr., (Nisqually) often described his role during the treaty fishing rights struggle in the Pacific Northwest of the 1960s and ‘70s.

Beginning as a teenager of 14, he went to jail more than 50 times and was arrested more than three times that. His canoes and gear were confiscated by the Washington fish and game police, who did not respect federal-tribal treaties, including the Medicine Creek Treaty that guaranteed fishing by the Nisqually, Puyallup and Squaxin Island Tribes near Olympia, Washington...