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April 3rd 2006 • Printer version 
Rennard Strickland
Forty books and forty years of teaching
Law professor Rennard Strickland knows everything about movies and
tells wonderful stories. For that alone, he deserves honor and glory.
But thats not all you need to know about the law professor and former
dean. He is a legal historian of Osage and Cherokee heritage who has
helped resolve a number of significant Indian law cases.
He pioneered
the introduction of Indian law into the mainstream law curriculum.
He
is frequently cited for his work in 1982 as the revision editor Cohens
Handbook of Federal Indian Law, the bible of the field.
From the Warrior Viewpoint CONFERENCE WEBSITE
The evening gala includes a reading by Strickland from his fortieth book, Grandfather Was a Good Witch: Growing Up Cherokee, and tributes by Wilma Mankiller, the first woman chief of the Cherokees, and Chad Smith, current principal chief of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. Called Celebrating Forty, it will commemorate his entire career, the publication of his fortieth book and his fortieth year of teaching.
Books are the subject of one of Stricklands many stories. At the
beginning of time, he said, Indians were given a choice of weapons, the
book or the bow.
After a while, they chose the bow because it protected
against enemies and provided food from the hunt. So the white man was
left with the book.
Much time and many troubles later, Native peoples
realized the power of the book and it became a primary weapon in their
arsenal of survival. Indians now talk about their intellectual tools in
battlefield terms: the test-tube warrior, the briefcase warrior.
In all of these battles, Strickland said, the book is a central
weapon. It is a privilege for me to be part of making available this
arsenal of ideas.
More about Rennard Strickland: BOOK EXHIBIT
The Jaqua Law Library features an exhibit of Rennard Stricklands life and times, beginning Monday, April 3 through fall, 2006 INDIAN LAW
Strickland worked as one of the editors of the latest (2005) edition of Cohens Handbook of Federal Indian Law (which also features UO law professor Mary Christina Wood as a contributing author). Editors said there were several important reasons to update the book, including recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions curbing tribal sovereignty, and the dramatic expansion of tribal gaming and commerce in the United States. THE MOVIES
Strickland is an expert on the movies particularly on the portrayal of
Native peoples in U.S. film and on legal films. In 2005, he curated an
exhibition at Eugenes Hult Center for the Performing Arts called
Marquee Massacres
-Eliza Schmidkunz
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