Janet McCloud
Encyclopedia
Janet McCloud was a prominent Native American and indigenous peoples activist. Her activism helped lead to the 1974 Boldt Decision
, for which she was dubbed, "the Rosa Parks
of the American Indian Movement
." One of the founders of Women of All Red Nations
(WARN) in 1974. The first convening of the Indigenous Women's Network was in her back yard in Yelm, Washington in August 1985.
Reservation on March 30, 1934, Janet Renecker, the oldest of three girls and a descendant of Chief Seattle
's family, lived a childhood marked by poverty and alcohol abuse.
Throughout her early years, she and her family moved often - from Tulalip to Taholah on the Quinault
Reservation and, later, to Seattle's International District. Her stepfather drank and had trouble finding work.
She often took refuge in churches and foster homes, spending much of her formative years in the city - mainly out of touch with tribal customs and traditions.
"She thought taverns and drinking was the only way in life," Barbara McCloud, her daughter, said.
She married and divorced young before meeting a Nisqually
tribal fisherman and electrical lineman named Don McCloud in the early 1950s. The couple soon married, and together would parent eight children - six girls and two boys.
, arresting five men, including some of McCloud's relatives, for illegal fishing.
"When the raid ended after more than eight hours of sorties in wet brush and on the muddy, swollen stream, five Indians had been arrested and charged with `operating set nets capable of taking game fish.'"
Despite tribal treaties, such as the Treaty of Medicine Creek
of 1854, with the federal government that guaranteed fishing and hunting rights to Indians in their traditional tribal lands and waters, state agents periodically squared off with Native Americans.
But as salmon and steelhead numbers began dwindling in the 1960s, the state began exerting more authority over tribal fisheries, attempting to conserve the catch for the commercial- and sport-fishing industries. Injunctions were issued allowing the state to regulate tribal fisheries, and the Washington State Supreme Court upheld them.
Indians began mobilizing. The McClouds founded the activist group Survival of American Indians Association. And, in defiance of court orders, members began staging demonstrations dubbed "fish-ins."
Joining her husband; his stepbrother, Nisqually tribal member Billy Frank, Jr.; Puyallup
Indian Bob Satiacum; and others, Janet McCloud helped organize the protests at the Nisqually River and Puyallup river
, into which tribe members cast traditional nets deemed illegal by the state. Invariably, the "fish-ins" would lead to raids and arrests at the hands of game agents. But the events drew worldwide attention.
Indian elder
s and activists converged on Washington State. Actor Marlon Brando
and rights activist Dick Gregory
went to Western Washington, joined fish-ins and lent their celebrity to the cause. And the Black Panthers stood side-by-side with Indians in protests at the state Capitol in Olympia
.
All the while, Janet McCloud documented the struggle as editor of Survival News - a newsletter that presented the natives' side of the fish wars. She found an old mimeograph machine at a local thrift store, brought it home and recruited her children to help.
"All us kids would be all right here, sorting and stapling all the papers together, late into the night," daughter Sally McCloud recalled.
Janet's children also stood on the battle lines.
During one famous fish-in at Frank's Landing on the Nisqually on Oct. 13, 1965, a boat carrying several native fishermen, including Janet's husband and two sons, set a tribal net in the river as game wardens lay in waiting. "From the other side of the river shouts were heard: 'Get em! Get the dirty S.O.B.s!'" McCloud wrote later. "In the twinkling of an eye, three big powerboats emerged from the underbrush, were quickly launched and used to ram the Indians' boat."
Her son, Jeff McCloud, not yet 10 and a non-swimmer, was dumped in. A scuffle broke out on the shore, where native women and children had gathered peacefully to watch the demonstration. They pelted wardens with debris, while game agents wrestled and beat some of the protesters.
"If Mom knew that was going to happen, she would've never brought us there," daughter Nancy Shippentower Games said. Six people were arrested, including Don and Janet McCloud. She served six days and refused to eat while incarcerated.
Eventually, the Indians' efforts paid off. On Feb. 12, 1974, U.S. District Judge George Boldt ruled in favor of 14 treaty tribes, upholding the language of their treaties that entitled them to half the salmon and steelhead catch in Washington.
One time, while her husband was jailed for a fish-in, McCloud, who had been a practicing Catholic, experienced a vision at her Yelm home.
"She couldn't rely on the white man's religion; it was hurting her," her daughter-in-law, Joyce McCloud, recalled. "That's when she saw the vision: She was looking out at Mount Rainier
, and she saw all the faces of the great chiefs."
McCloud believed it to be a calling.
In the late 1960s, she met Thomas Banyacya
, an internationally known Hopi spiritual interpreter, who taught her to search for answers in peace.
She befriended Audrey Shenandoah, an Iroquois Indian and Clan Mother of the Onondaga Nation in New York, and adopted Iroquois religious beliefs on nature.
"She was always speaking her mind, not backing down for anything," said Tracy Shenandoah, who with his mother came to Yelm to be with McCloud.
During the 1970s, McCloud spread the message of native spirituality and human rights worldwide. She traveled the globe, speaking about indigenous women's rights and social justice, and she served as delegate to a national conference on corrections, urging prisons to adopt native spirituality traditions for Indian inmates.
Leaders of the American Indian Movement - Dennis Banks, Russell Means and others - came to Sapa Dawn and its sweat lodge before launching their 1973 takeover at Wounded Knee, S.D.[3]
In August 1985, 300 women from many countries found their way to Sapa Dawn to talk about concerns they shared. "There was no motel in Yelm then," recalls McCloud. "So we put up tepees. One woman said: `Where's the motel?' I said, `Here's a key: tepee number one or tepee number two.'"
The women camped for five days, talking about social, economic and family problems troubling native people throughout the Western Hemisphere. That was the birth of what now is called the Indigenous Women's Network, a coalition championing native women, families and tribal sovereignty from Chile to Canada, and which adopted McCloud as a founding mother.
Boldt Decision
United States v. Washington, 384 F. Supp. 312 , was a 1974 court case which affirmed the right of most of the tribes in Washington to continue to harvest salmon...
, for which she was dubbed, "the Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was an African-American civil rights activist, whom the U.S. Congress called "the first lady of civil rights", and "the mother of the freedom movement"....
of the American Indian Movement
American Indian Movement
The American Indian Movement is a Native American activist organization in the United States, founded in 1968 in Minneapolis, Minnesota by urban Native Americans. The national AIM agenda focuses on spirituality, leadership, and sovereignty...
." One of the founders of Women of All Red Nations
Women of All Red Nations
Women of All Red Nations was a Native American women's organization. It was established in 1974 by Lorelei DeCora Means, Madonna Thunderhawk, Phyllis Young, Janet McCloud, and others. WARN included more than 300 women from 30 different tribal communities...
(WARN) in 1974. The first convening of the Indigenous Women's Network was in her back yard in Yelm, Washington in August 1985.
Ancestry and early life
Born on the TulalipTulalip
Tulalip is a group of Native American peoples from western Washington state in the United States. Today they are federally recognized as the Tulalip Tribes of the Tulalip Reservation.- History :...
Reservation on March 30, 1934, Janet Renecker, the oldest of three girls and a descendant of Chief Seattle
Chief Seattle
Chief Seattle , was a Dkhw’Duw’Absh chief, also known as Sealth, Seathle, Seathl, or See-ahth. A prominent figure among his people, he pursued a path of accommodation to white settlers, forming a personal relationship with David Swinson "Doc" Maynard. Seattle, Washington was named after him...
's family, lived a childhood marked by poverty and alcohol abuse.
Throughout her early years, she and her family moved often - from Tulalip to Taholah on the Quinault
Quinault
Quinault may refer to:* Quinault , a Native American tribe* MV Quinault, a Steel Electric Class ferry previously part of the Washington State Ferry system* Château Quinault, a Saint-Émilion wineryPeople:...
Reservation and, later, to Seattle's International District. Her stepfather drank and had trouble finding work.
She often took refuge in churches and foster homes, spending much of her formative years in the city - mainly out of touch with tribal customs and traditions.
"She thought taverns and drinking was the only way in life," Barbara McCloud, her daughter, said.
She married and divorced young before meeting a Nisqually
Nisqually
Nisqually may refer to:*Nisqually River, located in Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge*Nisqually , a Native American tribe*Nisqually Indian Community, Washington*The Nisqually Glacier on Mount Rainier...
tribal fisherman and electrical lineman named Don McCloud in the early 1950s. The couple soon married, and together would parent eight children - six girls and two boys.
Fishing rights activism
On Jan. 6, 1962, dozens of Washington State game wardens stormed a group of Indians fishing the Nisqually RiverNisqually River
The Nisqually River is a river in west central Washington in the United States, approximately long. It drains part of the Cascade Range southwest of Tacoma, including the southern slope of Mount Rainier, and empties into the southern end of Puget Sound....
, arresting five men, including some of McCloud's relatives, for illegal fishing.
"When the raid ended after more than eight hours of sorties in wet brush and on the muddy, swollen stream, five Indians had been arrested and charged with `operating set nets capable of taking game fish.'"
Despite tribal treaties, such as the Treaty of Medicine Creek
Treaty of Medicine Creek
The Treaty of Medicine Creek was an 1854 treaty between the United States, and the Nisqually, Puyallup and Squaxin Island tribes, along with six other smaller Native American tribes.-Site:...
of 1854, with the federal government that guaranteed fishing and hunting rights to Indians in their traditional tribal lands and waters, state agents periodically squared off with Native Americans.
But as salmon and steelhead numbers began dwindling in the 1960s, the state began exerting more authority over tribal fisheries, attempting to conserve the catch for the commercial- and sport-fishing industries. Injunctions were issued allowing the state to regulate tribal fisheries, and the Washington State Supreme Court upheld them.
Indians began mobilizing. The McClouds founded the activist group Survival of American Indians Association. And, in defiance of court orders, members began staging demonstrations dubbed "fish-ins."
Joining her husband; his stepbrother, Nisqually tribal member Billy Frank, Jr.; Puyallup
Puyallup
Puyallup may refer to:* Puyallup, Washington* Puyallup River* Puyallup , a Native American tribe* The Puyallup Fair, formerly named the "Western Washington Fair," held in Puyallup, Washington...
Indian Bob Satiacum; and others, Janet McCloud helped organize the protests at the Nisqually River and Puyallup river
Puyallup River
The Puyallup River is a river in the U.S. state of Washington. About long, it is formed by glaciers on the west side of Mount Rainier. It flows generally northwest, emptying into Commencement Bay, part of Puget Sound...
, into which tribe members cast traditional nets deemed illegal by the state. Invariably, the "fish-ins" would lead to raids and arrests at the hands of game agents. But the events drew worldwide attention.
Indian elder
American Indian elder
In American Indian education, within each tribe elders, "are repositories of cultural and philosophical knowledge and are the transmitters of such information," including, "basic beliefs and teachings, encouraging...faith in the Great Spirit, the Creator"...
s and activists converged on Washington State. Actor Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando, Jr. was an American movie star and political activist. "Unchallenged as the most important actor in modern American Cinema" according to the St...
and rights activist Dick Gregory
Dick Gregory
Richard Claxton "Dick" Gregory is an American comedian, social activist, social critic, writer, and entrepreneur....
went to Western Washington, joined fish-ins and lent their celebrity to the cause. And the Black Panthers stood side-by-side with Indians in protests at the state Capitol in Olympia
Olympia, Washington
Olympia is the capital city of the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat of Thurston County. It was incorporated on January 28, 1859. The population was 46,478 at the 2010 census...
.
All the while, Janet McCloud documented the struggle as editor of Survival News - a newsletter that presented the natives' side of the fish wars. She found an old mimeograph machine at a local thrift store, brought it home and recruited her children to help.
"All us kids would be all right here, sorting and stapling all the papers together, late into the night," daughter Sally McCloud recalled.
Janet's children also stood on the battle lines.
During one famous fish-in at Frank's Landing on the Nisqually on Oct. 13, 1965, a boat carrying several native fishermen, including Janet's husband and two sons, set a tribal net in the river as game wardens lay in waiting. "From the other side of the river shouts were heard: 'Get em! Get the dirty S.O.B.s!'" McCloud wrote later. "In the twinkling of an eye, three big powerboats emerged from the underbrush, were quickly launched and used to ram the Indians' boat."
Her son, Jeff McCloud, not yet 10 and a non-swimmer, was dumped in. A scuffle broke out on the shore, where native women and children had gathered peacefully to watch the demonstration. They pelted wardens with debris, while game agents wrestled and beat some of the protesters.
"If Mom knew that was going to happen, she would've never brought us there," daughter Nancy Shippentower Games said. Six people were arrested, including Don and Janet McCloud. She served six days and refused to eat while incarcerated.
Eventually, the Indians' efforts paid off. On Feb. 12, 1974, U.S. District Judge George Boldt ruled in favor of 14 treaty tribes, upholding the language of their treaties that entitled them to half the salmon and steelhead catch in Washington.
Resurrecting Native American spirituality
Along with catapulting her into the status of civil rights leader, the fish wars brought Janet McCloud in touch with her native spirituality.One time, while her husband was jailed for a fish-in, McCloud, who had been a practicing Catholic, experienced a vision at her Yelm home.
"She couldn't rely on the white man's religion; it was hurting her," her daughter-in-law, Joyce McCloud, recalled. "That's when she saw the vision: She was looking out at Mount Rainier
Mount Rainier
Mount Rainier is a massive stratovolcano located southeast of Seattle in the state of Washington, United States. It is the most topographically prominent mountain in the contiguous United States and the Cascade Volcanic Arc, with a summit elevation of . Mt. Rainier is considered one of the most...
, and she saw all the faces of the great chiefs."
McCloud believed it to be a calling.
In the late 1960s, she met Thomas Banyacya
Thomas Banyacya
Thomas Banyacya was a Hopi Native American traditional leader. One of four Hopis, including David Monongye, Dan Evehema, and Dan Katchongva, who decided or were appointed to reveal Hopi traditional wisdom and teachings, including the Hopi prophecies for the future, to the general public in 1946,...
, an internationally known Hopi spiritual interpreter, who taught her to search for answers in peace.
She befriended Audrey Shenandoah, an Iroquois Indian and Clan Mother of the Onondaga Nation in New York, and adopted Iroquois religious beliefs on nature.
"She was always speaking her mind, not backing down for anything," said Tracy Shenandoah, who with his mother came to Yelm to be with McCloud.
During the 1970s, McCloud spread the message of native spirituality and human rights worldwide. She traveled the globe, speaking about indigenous women's rights and social justice, and she served as delegate to a national conference on corrections, urging prisons to adopt native spirituality traditions for Indian inmates.
Sapa Dawn Center
Janet McCloud established her home and the surrounding 10 acres (40,468.6 m²) in Yelm, Washington as a retreat, naming it the Sapa Dawn Center, "Sapa" meaning grandfather, the name a tribute to Don McCloud, who died in April 1985. "The elders have said this is a spiritual place. For over 30 years, we've used this land to teach our traditional ways," McCloud, an Indian elder herself, wrote in 1999. "When all is going crazy . . . our people can come back to the center to find the calming effect; to reconnect with their spiritual self."Leaders of the American Indian Movement - Dennis Banks, Russell Means and others - came to Sapa Dawn and its sweat lodge before launching their 1973 takeover at Wounded Knee, S.D.[3]
In August 1985, 300 women from many countries found their way to Sapa Dawn to talk about concerns they shared. "There was no motel in Yelm then," recalls McCloud. "So we put up tepees. One woman said: `Where's the motel?' I said, `Here's a key: tepee number one or tepee number two.'"
The women camped for five days, talking about social, economic and family problems troubling native people throughout the Western Hemisphere. That was the birth of what now is called the Indigenous Women's Network, a coalition championing native women, families and tribal sovereignty from Chile to Canada, and which adopted McCloud as a founding mother.