William Lewis Paul (May 7, 1885 – March 4, 1977) was an American attorney, legislator, and political activist from the

Tlingit The Tlingit ( or ; also spelled Tlinkit) are indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their language is the Tlingit language (natively , pronounced ),

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

. He was known as a leader in the

Alaska Native Brotherhood The Alaska Native Brotherhood (ANB) and its counterpart, the Alaska Native Sisterhood (ANS), are two nonprofit organizations founded to address racism against Alaska Native peoples in Alaska. ANB was formed in 1912 and ANS founded three years lat ...

, and became the first Native attorney and first Native legislator in Alaskan history.

Early life

William Lewis Paul was born in Tongass Village in

Southeast Alaska Southeast Alaska, colloquially referred to as the Alaska(n) Panhandle, is the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Alaska, bordered to the east and north by the northern half of the Canadian province of British Columbia (and a small part ...

, the second child of Louis Francis Paul (a.k.a. Pyreau) and Tillie Paul, a Tlingit couple with Scots and French ancestry as well. William's Tlingit name was ''Shgúndi'' (or ''Shgwíndi'' in the southern Tlingit dialects) and he was a member of the Raven moiety in the ''Teeyhittaan'' clan. Tillie Paul was a teacher with

Sheldon Jackson Sheldon Jackson (May 18, 1834 – May 2, 1909) was a Presbyterian minister, missionary, and political leader. During this career he travelled about one million miles (1.6 million km) and established more than one hundred missions and churches, m ...

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

mission among the Tlingit, later

Sheldon Jackson College Sheldon Jackson College (SJC) was a small private college located on Baranof Island in Sitka, Alaska, United States. Founded in 1878, it was the oldest institution of higher learning in Alaska and maintained a historic relationship with the Presb ...

. William and his brothers all also attended the

Carlisle Indian Industrial School The United States Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, generally known as Carlisle Indian Industrial School, was the flagship Indian boarding school in the United States from 1879 through 1918. It took over the historic Carlisle ...

Carlisle, Pennsylvania Carlisle is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in and the county seat of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. Carlisle is located within the Cumberland Valley, a highly productive agricultural region. As of the 2020 United States census, ...

Activism and career

William and his brother, Louis Paul (1887–1956), are considered foundational members of the Alaska Native Brotherhood (ANB). In the 1920s, they extended its presence to every Native village in Southeast Alaska. The organization pressed for voting rights, desegregation, and social services, as well as advancing the first Tlingit and

Haida Haida may refer to: Places * Haida, an old name for Nový Bor * Haida Gwaii, meaning "Islands of the People", formerly called the Queen Charlotte Islands * Haida Islands, a different archipelago near Bella Bella, British Columbia Ships * , a 1 ...

land claims in Alaska. William Paul served several times as the ANB's Grand President and Grand Secretary. William Paul was the first Alaska Native to become an attorney, the first to be elected to Alaska Territorial House of Representatives, and the first to serve as an officer in the federal

Bureau of Indian Affairs The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States federal agency within the Department of the Interior. It is responsible for implementing federal laws and policies related to American Indians and A ...

. He helped draft the legislation to adopt Alaska's flag in 1927. He played a major role in the

Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) was signed into law by President Richard Nixon on December 18, 1971, constituting at the time the largest land claims settlement in United States history. ANCSA was intended to resolve long-standing i ...

(ANCSA) of 1971. His first run for the House in 1922/1923 was challenged legally and became an ultimately successful test case on citizenship rights of Indians to vote and hold office. Paul was defeated in his third run for the seat, in 1928, partly because of accusations that he had received payments from the salmon canning industry that he had vilified repeatedly in print. He ran unsuccessfully for the office of territorial attorney general in 1932. In the 1950s Paul brought an important land claims test case, '' Tee-Hit-Ton vs. U.S.'', on behalf of his own Tlingit clan, which was unsuccessful but which laid the groundwork for the later ANCSA.

Death

William Paul died in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

, on March 4, 1977.

References

Sources

* Drucker, Philip (1958) ''The Native Brotherhoods: Modern Intertribal Organizations on the Northwest Coast.'' (Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin no. 168.) Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. * Haycox, Stephen W. (1986) "William Paul, Sr., and the Alaska Voters' Literacy Act of 1925." ''Alaska History,'' vol. 2, pp. 17–37. * Haycox, Stephen W. (1992) "Tee-Hit-Ton and Alaska Native Rights." In: ''Law for the Elephant, Law for the Beaver: Essays in the Legal History of the North American West,'' ed. by John McLaren,

Hamar Foster Hamar is a town in Hamar Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. Hamar is the administrative centre of Hamar Municipality. It is located in the traditional region of Hedmarken. The town is located on the shores of Mjøsa, Norway's largest lake ...

, and

Chester Orloff Chester Lloyd "Chet" Orloff (born February 22, 1949) is a historian, writer and professor in Portland, Oregon, called "one of regon'sfavorite history teachers" by ''The Oregonian''. Early life Orloff was born in Bellingham, Washington to busines ...

. Regina, Saskatchewan: Canadian Plains Research Center, University of Regina. * Haycox, Stephen (1994) Biography of William Lewis Paul in: ''Haa Kusteeyí, Our Culture: Tlingit Life Stories,'' ed. by

Nora Marks Dauenhauer Nora Marks Keixwnéi Dauenhauer (May 8, 1927 – September 25, 2017) was a Tlingit poet, short-story writer, and Tlingit language scholar from Alaska. She won an American Book Award for ''Russians in Tlingit America: The Battles of Sitka, 1802 An ...

and

Richard Dauenhauer Richard Dauenhauer (April 10, 1942 – August 19, 2014) was an American poet, linguist, and translator who married into, and subsequently became an expert on, the Tlingit nation of southeastern Alaska. He was married to the Tlingit poet and schol ...

, pp. 503–524. (Classics of Tlingit Oral Literature, vol. 3.) Seattle: University of Washington Press. * Mitchell, Donald Craig (2003) Sold American: The Story of Alaska Natives and Their Land, 1867-1959 (Chapter Five: William Paul and the Alaska Native Brotherhood), University of Alaska Press. * Paul, William L., Sr. (1971) "The Real Story of the

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln ...

Totem A totem (from oj, ᑑᑌᒼ, italics=no or ''doodem'') is a spirit being, sacred object, or symbol that serves as an emblem of a group of people, such as a family, clan, lineage, or tribe, such as in the Anishinaabe clan system. While ''the wo ...

." ''Alaska Journal,'' summer 1971, pp. 2–16. * Philp, Kenneth (1981) "The New Deal and Alaska Natives, 1936-1945." ''Pacific Historical Review,'' Fall 1981, pp. 309–329.

External links

Alaska's Digital Archives
Photo of William Paul, flanked by sons William, Jr. and Frederick
William Paul
at ''100 Years of Alaska's Legislature'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Paul, William 1885 births 1977 deaths 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century American politicians 20th-century Native Americans Aboriginal title in the United States Alaska lawyers Alaska Native people Alaska Native activists Alaska Republicans Carlisle Indian Industrial School alumni Christians from Alaska Lawyers from Seattle Members of the Alaska Territorial Legislature Native American Christians Native American lawyers Native American politicians People from Ketchikan Gateway Borough, Alaska Tlingit people Washington (state) lawyers