Billy Frank Jr.

On a dark winter night in 1945, a shout rang out on the banks of the Nisqually River.

You're under arrest! Billy Frank Jr., just 14 at the time, called back, Leave me alone! I live here! before being hauled off to a holding cell.

He didn't know it then, but his arrest was one of the earliest battles in what would later be known as the Fish Wars.

Hi, I'm Che Jim, and welcome to Crash Course Native American History.

American soldiers were ordered to kill every buffalo on site because, quote, every buffalo dead was an Indian gone.

The US government knew that without the buffalo, Native Americans would starve, which meant that they would be more willing to sign treaties and hand over land to them.

Which brings us back to Billy Frank Jr. and the fish wars.

In the mid-19th century, the Nisqually and other native nations who had defined themselves as salmon people signed treaties with the U.S. government, ceding millions of acres of land in what's now Washington state.

Where can our listeners go follow you on social media or your site social medias? Where can we find you?

I have the control over the Facebook page for Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge, and I have some fun with it.

So hop on and see what I'm doing with that.

Perfect.