Billy Frank Jr., 1931-2014. Photo from Facebook

The Nisqually Tribe of Washington celebrated the legacy of the late treaty rights advocate Billy Frank Jr. on Wednesday.

The tribe established Billy Frank Jr. Day following Frank's death in May 2015 at the age of 83. He was honored at a feast and through a day of service in which tribal members cleaned up parts of the reservation.

“I don’t think anyone can fill his shoes," his son William Frank, a council member, said at the feast, The Seattle Times reported. "It is going to take all of us, everyone coming together and remembering his message about working together.”

Frank was instrumental in protecting the treaty-protected fishing rights of tribes in the Northwest. He posthumously received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, last year for his efforts and Congress passed a bill to designate the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge as the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge.

H.R.2270, the Billy Frank Jr. Tell Your Story Act, also establishes the Medicine Creek Treaty National Historic Site to mark the place where the 1854 Treaty of Medicine Creek, which Frank fought to protect, was signed.

Get the Story:
Nisqually Tribe honors legacy of Billy Frank Jr. (The Seattle Times 3/10)
Area tribes to honor Billy Frank Jr. with ceremonies, holiday today (The Peninsula Daily News 3/9)
Nisqually’s Willie Frank celebrates sobriety and his dad’s legacy (The Bellingham Herald 3/7)

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