Raymond Cross, a champion of Native American rights in the legal system, will speak at the University of New Mexico on April 14 from 6 to 8:30 p.m. in Woodward Hall 149. The presentation, titled “Reclaiming Aboriginal America: The Role of Indian Tribes and Peoples in Restoring and Preserving ‘The Heart of America,'” is part of the Native American Studies spring 2005 lecture series.
Currently a professor of law at the University of Montana - Missoula, Cross has a history of legal activism as a tribal attorney for the Three Affiliated Tribes — Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nations — and as a staff attorney for the Native American Rights Fund.
Among other cases reaffirming tribal sovereign immunity, Cross represented the Three Affiliated Tribes in a just compensation claim for the federal taking of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. The land, once home to nine North Dakota Native American communities, was flooded in 1949 when Congress authorized the building of Garrison Dam.
“Cross won his landmark legal battle for Indian sovereignty and in so doing earned the gratitude of not only his own people but of all who live in Indian Country,” William Lang said in a Dec. 5, 2004 Albuquerque Journal review of “Coyote Warrior,” a book which details the history from the building of the dam to the successful conclusion of Cross' efforts, resulting in a 1992 Congressional payment of $149.5 million in just compensation to the Three Affiliated Tribes.
The presentation is free and open to the public.
Contact: Sara Krosinsky, (505) 277-5813
Posted by scarr at April 8, 2005 02:41 PM