There seems to be continued interest in the life of William Paul, Sr. and so as promised last night I will describe some of his activities throughout Alaska - some of which might be little known. I mentioned that William Paul has worked in every part of Alaska. When the Aleut (Unangan) were still in southeast Alaska relocation camps Paul met with some of the leaders and told them how to set up their own ANB chapter on the Aleutian Chain to fight for reparations. In the early 1970s William Paul met with Inupiat activist, Charlie Edwardsen, to fight against oil companies in the Northwest region. Later, his son Fred Paul (pictured) took up the fight with the Inupiat and fought against the certain environmental damage in the fragile ecosystem. In 1939 William Paul with the backing of the ANB created the Marine Workers Union to protect fishermen of all ethnic backgrounds and also the women cannery workers in their deplorable conditions working the line. A little known fact also is that William Paul, as Alaskas first Native lawyer, fought for the rights of Mary Annahootz for her husbands back wages as a Native police officer after Annahootz had passed from this temporal life and she had not received these benefits as his widow. And lastly for tonight he fought for his Wrangell lands against the Department of Agriculture and the clear cutting of the Tongass Forest in the Tee-Hit-Ton case before the Supreme Court in 1955. The pictured hat is the revered Tee-Hit-Ton clan hat. And a good one to tell that last story about the hat would be Cindy DeWitt
Posted on: Thu, 22 Jan 2015 05:57:47 +0000
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