Carrie Garrow has published “Following Deskaheh’s Legacy: Reclaiming the Cayuga Indian Nation’s Land Rights at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights” in the Syracuse Journal of International Law and Commerce. Here is the intro:
Deskaheh, Chief of the Younger Bear Clan of the Cayuga Nation in the 1920s, prepared the path for international recognition of Haudenosaunee (People of the Longhouse) sovereignty and human rights. An eloquent orator and resolute leader, he spent many years advocating for international recognition of Haudenosaunee sovereignty and treaty violations by Canada. In 1921, as Speaker of the Six Nations Council, he traveled on a passport issued by his nation to seek British aid to halt Canada’s attempt to overthrow the traditional form of government and impose an elected band council. Despite failing to convince the British to intervene and protect the treaty they had signed with the Six Nations living in Grand River, Deskaheh returned to Europe in 1923. He traveled to Geneva to “bring his peoples’ case before the League of Nations.” While he fought to receive permission to appear before the League, the Canadian government, in violation of Haudenosaunee sovereignty and treaties, announced a “free election” under armed guard of twenty Canadian police at Grand River to determine whether or not the Six Nations Government of Grand River Land should be dissolved. Meanwhile back in Geneva, Deskaheh was denied permission to appear before the League’s plenary session, despite the Netherlands and Albania’s support of his petition. Determined to educate the world about the violation of his people’s rights, Deskaheh presented his nation’s case at a press conference attended by many nations and “[w]hen he finished, there was a moment of silence–then the roar of a tremendous ovation. Thousands rose to their feet to cheer him and the great hall echoed and re-echoed with their applause.” At the end of 1924, Deskaheh returned to the United States, an exile from Canada unable to cross the border. Although Deskaheh thought himself a failure, “he found that the people for whom he had fought did not think him a failure. From their northern homes in Grand River Land, they journeyed here to see him and assure him of their loyalty.”
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