Treaty of Point Elliott - After The Treaty

After The Treaty

Fishing rights were increasingly restricted after 1890. State repression increased through the 1950s. Protest fish-ins began in the 1960s, with successful public, peaceful outmaneuvering of police, garnering wide media attention. The Boldt Decision in 1974 was followed by extraordinary repression by the state and resistance by non-Indians, until the Supreme Court upheld the decision in 1979. Nooksacks, Upper Skagits, Sauks-Suiattles, and Stillaguamishes won federal recognition in the 1970s, largely due to participation in treaty-rights struggles. Federal courts denied Samish, Snohomish, Snoqualmie, Steilacoom, and Duwamish, because they were not recognized as polities (civil governments).