Synopses & Reviews
In 1855 in the South Puget Sound, war broke out between Washington settlers and Nisqually Indians. A party of militiamen traveling through Nisqually country was ambushed, and two men were shot from behind and fatally wounded. After the war, Chief Leschi, a Nisqually leader, was found guilty of murder by a jury of settlers and hanged in the territory's first judicial execution. But some 150 years later, in 2004, the Historical Court of Justice, a symbolic tribunal that convened in a Tacoma museum, reexamined Leschi's murder conviction and posthumously exonerated him. In
Framing Chief Leschi, Lisa Blee uses this fascinating case to uncover the powerful, lasting implications of the United States' colonial past.
Review
"Blee's study of contested history and an Indian leader's evolving significance illustrates in fresh, compelling ways the complex nature and importance of the endeavor we call history. It will no doubt be useful to scholars in several fields, particularly American Indian, public, Pacific Northwest, or Western history. It could be a valuable teaching tool for students of historical method and historical memory, both graduate and undergraduate."--Alexandra Harmon, author of
Rich Indians: Native People and the Problem of Wealth in American History
Review
"While on its face this book is about Chief Leschi's history, re-trial, and role in the Pacific Northwest, Blee makes its purpose and argument more about the complexity, and even impossibility, of disentangling history and memory in the effort to engage the U.S. history and present of colonialism, and thus also the effort to move towards justice for indigenous peoples."--Kevin Bruyneel, Babson College
About the Author
Lisa Blee is assistant professor of history at Wake Forest University.