1) The Federal policies and the Treaties of 1855 greatly affected family life among the Nisqually people during that time because they uprooted thousands of years of traditions and sequestered the people to a reserve much smaller than the land they initially called home. American settlers not only took their land, but they also began forcing their government and church upon the Nisqually. However, the Nisqually traditions were not so easily forgotten and those traditions helped to inspire the people to fight for justice in order to gain back some of the land that was taken from them. However, the Nisqually people didn’t require government rations like some of the other tribes did because of their location on the Nisqually River. The Nisqually were able to catch…show more content… But that was one of the few pleasant things about their reservation. Family life was majorly impacted as Indian agents pressured families to send their children way to boarding school. It was part of the American attempt to get the Nisqually people to assimilate to American culture. While most children did go to school, their main education was with the Nisqually people and their traditions.
2) In the book, Billy Frank explains that the Nisqually people rely heavily on the land and river for not only every day survival, but to maintain their cultural history as well. He even states in the book, “That river was my life.” To the Nisqually people, the river was the center focus of their lives and they grew up with that understanding. His words echo thousands of years of traditions. They needed the river because the main part of their diet was salmon. He also mentions that the medicine people would build their smoke/ceremonial houses next to the river, as it was a focal point of their lives and culture. But it wasn’t just the river that