A Lawyer in Indian Country: A Memoir / Edition 2

by Alvin J. Ziontz, Charles Wilkinson

Overview

In his memoir, Alvin Ziontz reflects on his more than thirty years representing Indian tribes, from a time when Indian law was little known through landmark battles that upheld tribal sovereignty. He discusses the growth and maturation of tribal government and the underlying tensions between Indian society and the non-Indian world. A Lawyer in Indian Country presents vignettes of reservation life and recounts some of the memorable legal cases that illustrate the challenges faced by individual Indians and tribes.

As the senior attorney arguing U.S. v. Washington, Ziontz was a party to the historic 1974 Boldt decision that affirmed the Pacific Northwest tribes' treaty fishing rights, with ramifications for tribal rights nationwide. His work took him to reservations in Montana, Wyoming, and Minnesota, as well as Washington and Alaska, and he describes not only the work of a tribal attorney but also his personal entry into the life of Indian country.

Ziontz continued to fight for tribal rights into the late 1990s, as the Makah tribe of Washington sought to resume its traditional whale hunts. Throughout his book, Ziontz traces his own path through this public history - one man's pursuit of a life built around the principles of integrity and justice.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780295992358
Publisher:	University of Washington Press
Publication date:	11/27/2012
Edition description:	Paperback
Pages:	328
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.70(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Charles Wilkinson is the Moses Lasky Professor of Law Emeritus at the University of Colorado. His fourteen books on law, history, and society in the American West include the standard law casebooks on Indian Law and Federal Public Land Law; The Eagle Bird: Mapping A New West (Pantheon Books, 1992); Fire on the Plateau: Conquest and Endurance in the American Southwest (Island Press, 1999); Messages from Frank’s Landing: A Story of Salmon, Treaties, and the Indian Way (University of Washington Press, 2000); Blood Struggle: The Rise of Modern Indian Nations (W.W. Norton & Co., 2005); and The People Are Dancing Again: The History of the Siletz Tribe of Western Oregon (University of Washington Press, 2010).

Table of Contents

Foreword by Charles Wilkinson

Preface

Acknowledgments

1. The Road to Neah Bay

2. The Road to Neah Bay Begins in Chicago

3. The University of Chicago, the Army, and Seattle

4. Becoming a Lawyer

5. Seven Years of Lawyering in West Seattle

6. Creating a Law Firm

7. Indian Fishing Rights: Joining the Struggle

8. The Makahs

9. Recovering Lost Property: Ozette, Tatoosh, and Waadah

10. The Lummi Tribe

11. Indian Fishing Rights: Eighty Years of Suppression, Twenty Years of Confrontation

12. The Big Bang: U.S. v. Washington Begins

13. U.S. v. Washington: The Trial

14. U.S. v. Washington: Closing Arguments and Judge Boldt's Decision

15. The U.S. Supreme Court Has the Last Word: Consequences of the Boldt Decision

16. The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation

17. The Northern Cheyennes Fight Strip-Mining

18. The Northern Cheyennes and the Hollowbreast Case

19. The Oliphant Case: A Setback for Tribal Government

20. Writing about the Indian Civil Rights Act

21. Leaving Law for Academia

22. A Firm of Tribal Attorneys

23. Representing Fishermen of the Alaska Peninsula

24. The Mille Lacs Band of Chippewas

25. The Wanda Boswell Case

26. The Northern Arapaho Tribe

27. Photographing the Northern Cheyennes

28. The Makah Whale Hunt

29. A Life in Being

Notes

Selected Bibliography

What People are Saying About This

Robert T. Anderson

"An important and compelling story of one man's remarkable career representing Indian tribes during the golden age of the modern Indian rights movement."

Carole Goldberg

"Ziontz's memoir draws us into the inner world of tribal and legal strategy that shaped one of the most important social movements of the twentieth century—the struggle of Native Americans to reclaim their resources and sovereignty. Lawyers, scholars, and activists can all learn from his revealing account of partnership between a developing Indian lawyer and his tribal clients."

W. Richard West

"As one who was born to and lived where Al Ziontz went—Indian Country—I am deeply grateful for this memoir. A Lawyer in Indian Country is the story of a gifted attorney on the frontlines of Native legal reform who also brought great conscience to his work. As a Southern Cheyenne, I value both immensely, but in the end it is his defining and transcendent empathy and humanity regarding Native America that matter to me most."

Editorial Reviews

A Lawyer in Indian Country is a compelling legal and personal story... Readers will find this richly textured memoir an inspiring story, with the author deserving high praise for advancing the constitutional rights of American Indians.

-- "The Oregon Quarterly"

Ziontz infuses wit and humor into his narrative, yet the heartbreak and frustration surrounding Indian rights is palpable. . . . A Lawyer in Indian Country is a must read for anyone interested in Native-white relations, Native rights, of Pacific Northwest history. Simply put, Ziontz provides a riveting account of struggle and success and goes beyond court documents and affidavits to reveal the people behind the cases, and the man behind the people.

-- "Pacific Northwest Quarterly"

From the Publisher