Working undercover, federal agents buy 317 fish caught out of season from David Sohappy Sr. Long active in the campaign for Indian fishing rights, Sohappy is best known for using the courts to challenge regulations on fishing in the Columbia River in the case Sohappy v. Smith. After the U. S. Supreme Court refuses to hear his appeal, Sohappy will serve 18 months in prison before his release in May 1988.
The Office of Intergovernmental Affairs is charged with dealings with Indians.
President Ronald Reagan transfers responsibility for the White House’s dealings with Indians from the Office of Liaison to the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. Through the change, the Reagan administration implies a shift in attitude toward Indian tribes: Instead of considering them as minority groups, the White House will treat them as sovereign nations.
The Samish erect the “Maiden of Deception.”
In 1979 the Samish, a small group of Coast Salish Indians in northwestern Washington State, filed a petition for federal recognition as a tribe. When, four years later, the government decides to deny them recognition, the Samish protest the decision by commissioning a sculpture of the “maiden of deception,” an important figure in Samish legends. To show their solidarity despite their “unrecognized” status, they erect the statue by holding a traditional potlatch feast, with neighboring tribes as their guests.
The Fool's Crow v. Gullett court decision threatens the sacred site of Bear Butte.
When the federal government makes plans to build roads and parking lots in the Bear Butte area of
South Dakota, several Plains tribes object in federal court. They hold that, by facilitating non-Indian tourism in the region, the government’s projects will destroy a site the Indians regard as sacred. In Fool’s Crow v. Gullett, the tribes claim that the government is violating their First Amendment rights to religious freedom, but the court finds for the government, allowing it to proceed with the proposed construction.
Activists will continue to fight development in the area. In 2004, they will force a company to abandon plans to construct a shooting range nearby, and in 2005 they will compel a bar owner to relocate his establishment farther away from the sacred site. (See also entry for JULY 4, 2006.)
January 14
The Indian Tribal Governmental Tax Status Act is passed.
Through the Indian Tribal Governmental Tax Status Act, Congress confirms that tribes are not taxable entities. The act also gives tribes many of the tax benefits available to state and local governments. For instance, it allows tribes to finance commercial and governmental ventures by issuing tax-exempt bonds.
January 18
Jim Thorpe’s Olympic records and medals are restored.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) reinstates Jim Thorpe’s amateur status 30 years after his death and gives his children duplicates of the two gold medals he won in the Olympics (see entry for SUMMER 1912). The IOC’s reversal is largely due to the urging of the Jim Thorpe Foundation, led by Thorpe’s daughters Grace and Charlotte, and the U. S. Olympic Committee. A Sac and Fox Indian, Thorpe had been stripped of his medals when it was discovered that he had played semiprofessional baseball in the summer of 1910 (see entry for JANUARY 1913).
Six children of famed athlete Jim Thorpe celebrate the return of his Olympic medals with Juan Antonio Samaranch (center), president of the International Olympic Committee. (AP/Wide World Photos)
January 19
James Watts brands reservations as “socialist.”
In a television interview, Secretary of the Interior James Watts states, “If you want an example of the failures of socialism, don’t go to Russia. Come to America, and see the American Indian reservations.” Watts goes on to say that reservation “socialism” has led to “alcoholism, unemployment, venereal disease, and drug addiction.” Indian leaders across the United States denounce the secretary’s equation of tribalism with socialism and his grossly negative characterization of reservation life.
To defend their treaty rights, breeding increasing tension between Indians and non-Indians in Wisconsin.
February 27
KILI opens as a radio station serving the Lakota Sioux.
On the 10th anniversary of the takeover of Wounded Knee (see entry to FEBRUARY 28, 1973), public radio station KILI begins broadcasting in Porcupine, South Dakota. Managed by Dale Means, the brother of American Indian Movement leader Russell Means, the station features local programs, high school reports, and tribal news in both English and Lakota. Reaching more than 22,000 Lakota Sioux throughout the state, the enterprise is conceived as a relatively inexpensive way of disseminating information from an Indian perspective.
May 10
Micmac prisoner Donald Marshall is exonerated.
The Supreme Court of Nova Scotia acquits Donald Marshall, a Micmac who has served 11 years in prison for a murder he did not commit. The case brings attention to the inequities of the Canadian justice system, which is three times more likely to imprison a Native than a non-Native accused of a crime.
January 25
The Voigt Decision affirms Ojibway fishing and hunting rights.
A U. S. Court of Appeals rules in Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians v. Voigt (also known as the Voigt decision) that the Ojibway of Wisconsin have a right to fish, hunt, and gather wild foods in their former homeland, even though the area was ceded to the United States by treaty. The decision will inspire an Ojibway movement
June 13
The Mescalero Apache retain control over reservation hunting and fishing.
The Mescalero Apache and the state of New Mexico dispute which party has the right to regulate non-Indian hunting and fishing on the tribe’s reservation. The matter is settled by the Supreme Court in New Mexico v. Mescalero Apache Tribe. The court holds that because the tribe has invested heavily in developing the reservations’ hunting and fishing resources, it may dictate how they are used by Indians and non-Indians alike.
July 15
The Supreme Court allows Indian water rights disputes to be heard in state courts.
In Arizona et al. v. San Carlos Apache Tribe, the Supreme Court backs away from the stance on Indian water rights it set in Winters v. United States (see entry for 1908). Its decision in the Winters case stated that Indians had a right to their reservations’ water sources. In Arizona, however, the Court finds that tribes can be forced to settle disputes with non-Indians over water rights in state courts rather than in federal courts. The ruling threatens Indian water rights because state courts are far less sympathetic to the position of tribes.
September
The Alaska Native Review Commission is formed.
To investigate the impact of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (see entry for DECEMBER 18, 1971), Inuit activists establish the Alaska Native Review Commission. The commission begins holding hearings at 62 villages throughout Alaska. The transcribed testimony of nearly 15,000 Natives will eventually be collected into 98 volumes (see entry for SEPTEMBER 1985).
October 1
The American Indian Registry for the Performing Arts is founded.
In Los Angeles, the American Indian Registry for the Performing Arts is established to help Indians find work as actors, directors, producers, and technical staff in film and television productions. The organization also works to promote the casting of Indians as Indian characters and to improve the accuracy of representations of Native Americans in movies and television.
World History
