Celebrating Hank Adams

About the Doodle:

He was a gifted student and attended the University of Wisconsin for two years. Ultimately, Adams decided to leave school to start his activist work in suicide prevention among Native American youth.

In 1963, Adams joined the National Indian Youth Council and helped organize events in support of protecting the treaty, hunting, and fishing rights of tribal nations. At a time when the government wanted to limit Native American fishing rights, Adams staged marches and “fish-ins.” These peaceful acts of protest asserted Native American fishing rights that were already guaranteed in existing treaties, but ignored by state authorities.

Throughout the rest of his career, he attended many more protests such as the Northwest Fish Wars, Wounded Knee incident, and more. At several of these events, when tensions were high, Adams helped keep the peace and encouraged negotiations between the opposing parties. Most notably, he is remembered for his advocacy during the Boldt Decision, a 1974 court case which affirmed Native American treaty rights in the Pacific Northwest, and the Trail of Broken Treaties, where thousands of Native American people from across the United States protested in D.C. for civil rights.

To recognize his actions and service, he was awarded the Abraham Lincoln Award in 1971 and the Jefferson Award for Public Service in 1981.

Happy birthday, Hank Adams!