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The War on Poverty, Lawyers, and the Tribal Sovereignty Movement, 1964-1974

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The War on Poverty, Lawyers, and the Tribal Sovereignty Movement, 1964-1974 ‘The Sovereignty that Seemed Lost Forever’: The War on Poverty, Lawyers, and the Tribal Sovereignty Movement, 1964-1974 Aurélie A. Roy Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2017 © 2017 Aurélie A. Roy All rights reserved ‘The Sovereignty that Seemed Lost Forever’1: The War on Poverty, Lawyers, and the Tribal Sovereignty Movement, 1964-1974 Aurélie A. Roy ABSTRACT Relying on interviews of Indian rights lawyers as well as archival research, this collective history excavates a missing page in the history of the modern tribal sovereignty movement. At a time when vocal Native American political protests were raging from Washington State, to Alcatraz Island, to Washington, D.C., a small group of newly graduated lawyers started quietly resurrecting Indian rights through the law. Between 1964 and 1974, these non-Indian and Native American lawyers litigated on behalf of Indians, established legal assistance programs as part of the War on Poverty efforts to provide American citizens with equal access to a better life, and founded institutions to support the protection of tribal rights. In the process, they would also inadvertently create both a profession and an academic field—Indian law as we know it today— which has since attracted an increasing number of lawyers, including Native Americans. This story is an attempt at reconstituting a major dimension of the rise of tribal sovereignty in the postwar era, one that has until now remained in the shadows of history: how Indian rights, considered obsolete until the 1960s, gained legitimacy by seizing a series of opportunities made available in part through ‘accidents’ of history. The work done by this new generation of Indian rights lawyers between the mid-1960s and the mid-1970s recast definitions of tribal sovereignty in Indian Country as well as the practice and teaching of Indian law. At its core, this project 1 Charles Wilkinson, Opening Keynote Address, 45th Anniversary of the Native American Rights Fund, University of Colorado Law School, Boulder, CO, November 5, 2015. seeks to realize three aspirations: First, to explain where Native American rights come from and how they interact, engage, and fit in with American law; second, to dissect the uses and limitations of law as an avenue for the pursuit of social justice; and third, to probe the question of whether the United States can function as a plural state capable of hosting multiple visions of politics, law, and culture. TABLE OF CONTENTS Remerciements ii Introduction 1 PART I Chapter One “An Accident of Fate”: The Emergence of a New Generation of Indian Rights Lawyers 23 PART II Chapter Two Devising New Protections for Indian Rights: California Indian Legal Services, 1966-1968 58 Chapter Three Fishing for Lost Rights in the Pacific Northwest: How Tribal Sovereignty Became Legal Strategy for Recovering Indian Rights, 1968-1974 90 PART III Chapter Four Building Institutions of Indian Law 126 Chapter Five Disseminating Indian Law: The Cohen Handbook and the Training of the Next Wave of Indian Rights Lawyers 159 Epilogue ‘The Work of Our Lives’: Tribal Sovereignty as an ‘Ongoing Contest’ 194 Bibliography 211 Appendix 232 i REMERCIEMENTS I would like to thank my friends, particularly those who have helped me grow a garden of peace in my heart, and my family, for providing the love, support, and space to hold the madness an academic journey seems to require. I am particularly grateful for the dear friends who were part of an intense daily routine during the home run. Special thanks to my cosmopolitan amis for keeping things in perspective for me as I navigated zombieland: Sarah Duris for your generous heart and for reassuring me when I badly needed it; Juan Jímenez, who ensured I got my weekly anti-insanity formula by inviting me over for some Vinyasa and Hatha and, most delightfully, the four minutes of Shavasana at the end during which I allowed myself not to think dissertation; Danche Petrovska, for your caring and radically honest love; Velina Dinkova, for your positive energy, the exchange of academic feedback over tapenade and good Scotch amongst the pine trees of the front range of the Rocky Mountains; and Masako Hattori and Johannah Schwartz Miralles for reading drafts of my work very late in the process as well as for your enduring friendship. Thanks to James Brooks, for being the best human and intellectual cheerleader I know. At home, what an inspiring sister and woman I am so lucky to have so close, muchas gwracias for being who you are, Angela Myers! And also, cappuccino cheers to Danica Trifunovic for your delightful presence, your heart-warming smiles as you entered into the glow of retirement, and for never stopping to speak poetically on life and love. At Columbia, my partner in crime, Maria John, has been a personal model of balance and strength as well as a wonderful friend. I was also blessed with a supportive—and loving!— cohort. Extra doses of heartfelt hugs to Ian Shin, Ana Isabel Keilson, and Noah Rosenblum. I am very grateful and fortunate for my committee: Sam Moyn and Karl Jacoby for agreeing to co- ii supervise my work, Mae Ngai and Elsa Stamatopoulou for staying with me through the end even after I vanished back to Colorado, and Betsy Blackmar for her constant interest and support for my work over the years and for accepting to join my committee at the last minute. I would also like to thank the faculty of the History Department at Columbia at large. My deeper appreciation goes, in particular, to Evan Haefeli and Eric Foner, who enthusiastically welcomed me into the program, Adam McKeown, whose recent passing leaves me heartbroken, for his lively spirit and inspiring humanness, Adam Kosto for supporting my choices in the second half of my time at Columbia and beyond, Pamela Smith for her incredible mind and never-ending curiosity, and Caterina Pizzigoni for leading our teaching team with so much grace and kindness. Thanks, Babbo, for your demanding kindness, which taught me to push my own limits and persevere, even and especially when things got tough—not one thing too many to have in this Ph.D business. Thanks a million for your soothing words in the last few months and for your generous and peaceful heart. Thanks, Maman, for providing much needed strength, confidence, and support at critical times, and for sending your awesome French food packages across the ocean. Thank you, Melon, mon petit soleil, my little sister, Émeline Roy, who has been the wisest person I’ve known since her coming into this world, and my most cherished companion in profound and silly discussions on the relationships and societies we have navigated together. Infinite thank yous to my lil brother, P’ti Frère, Cédric Roy, who has been a constant inspiration even when going against my grain and for your ability to think straight amidst the occasional chaos—not a minor quality to have in this world. I’m glad we got closer and closer over the years, because it means I have somehow managed to meet you in the spaces you got right and inspired me from. After many head bumps into invisible walls, I finally got to understand a few important things thanks to your rootedness. iii * In conducting this project, I was fortunate in interviewing men and women who, contrary to many among the people they have represented, tend to live long lives. Still, the nature of researching people’s contact information online can be cruel. As I searched for many a lawyer who had been mentioned to me by another, I often found myself on the brink of a minor heart attack. It was, after all, possible that some of them had passed, and that thought moved me deeply. Time had passed since the 1960s and 1970s and as I inquired about past colleagues, lawyers could not always guarantee that their colleagues of old would still be alive. Some of them, much to my dismay, and great losses to the field, did pass before I started the project, and I hope the present work honors their memory. In many ways, this is a work in progress, still. The stories I tell here are part of a wide web of connections, some of which I have been fortunate enough to receive knowledge on. There is so much more to say. But for now, I shall thank the people who have taken part in my adventure so far, including those who formally disappeared from the story as I narrowed down my focus. Following the somewhat haphazard order I interviewed them, thanks to: Tim Coulter, Jana Walker, John Echohawk, Ray Ramírez, Mike Chiropolos, Rick Collins, Monroe Price, Steve Moore, Ian Fisher, Howard Belodoff, Mary-Ellen Sloan, Bill Thorne, Scott McElroy, Katherine Belzowski, Sage Garland, Lateigra Cahill, Loretta Danzuka, Steve Shirley, Therese Yanan, Richard Hughes, Brenda Anderson, Matt Van Wormer, George Duke, Louise Grant, Charlie Hobbs, Reid Chambers, Bethany Berger, Arthur Lazarus, Scott Peck, Jerry Straus, Bob Anderson, Richard Schifter, Al Ziontz, Charles Wilkinson, Bob Pelcyger, Richard Guest, Gloria Valencia-Weber, Mason Morisset, Tom Schlosser, Mike Taylor, Robert Pirtle, Tom Fredericks, Greg Dallaire, Bruce Greene, Dick Trudell, Lee Sclar, Arlinda Locklear, Rob Thompson, Russel iv Lawrence Barsh, Harry Sachse, Frank Pommersheim, Ada Deer, Carole Goldberg, and Tom Luebben. Thank you all for sharing your professional and personal stories with me, and for helping me build this narrative; none of these interviews could have been replaced by the archival materials available out there. All errors of interpretation remain mine.
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