
Hank Adams was a nationally celebrated activist, historian, and strategist who fought for the rights of Native Americans in the United States of America. He is best known for his lifelong work to secure Native American treaty rights, especially for the Northwest Coast tribes’ treaty rights regarding fishing territories.
Fight over treaty rights
Hank Adams organized and headed many demonstrations and protests to draw attention to the state of Washington’s attempt to limit Native American treaty fishing rights. These civil disobedience protests came to be known as the Fish Wars*. In 1975, after years of protests and court cases, the Supreme Court affirmed that Native Americans in the Northwest had the right to continue to fish in traditional territories and in traditional ways exempt from state restrictions in what has come to be known as the Boldt Decision.
*The Fish Wars were a series of civil disobedience protests in the 1960s and ’70s in which Native American tribes around the Puget Sound pressured the U.S. government to recognize fishing rights granted by the Treaty of Medicine Creek.
Historian and activist Vine Deloria Jr. once stated that Adams was the most important Native American in the USA because of his role in nearly every major event in Native American history from the 1960s forward.
In order to increase awareness of the treaty fishing rights disputes in the Pacific Northwest, Adams was a part of the film “As Long as the Rivers Run”, a documentary. He was a co-producer of the film.
Indigenous people’s rights visionary
Adams was a crucial ally and strategist throughout the battle to maintain Native treaty rights, both on the riverbanks and in the courtroom.
During the 1980s, Adams worked with the Miskito people in their campaign for self-determination in Nicaragua. He believed that young Indigenous people should learn about their history, learn about their rights, participate in public affairs, and become voices for the local communities to protect their interests in debates about climate change.
Adams was also active in the American Indian Movement, a Native American grassroots movement focused on addressing systemic issues of poverty and inequality for Native Americans.
In 2006 he was honoured with the American Indian Visionary Award by Indian Country Today. Until his death in 2020, he continued to advocate for young Native Americans’ education on treaty rights and for their participation in community affairs.