Manuscripts Collection
Bernard Becker was born in New York City and earned his law degree at the University of Minnesota in 1965, after which he served with legal aid societies in New York City and Minneapolis. In Minneapolis he became chief counsel handling cases involving Indian treaty rights and government benefit claims and cases involving juveniles. In 1986 he was appointed part-time magistrate serving U.S. district courts in Minnesota. Becker also taught classes at the William Mitchell College of Law, St. Paul (1973-1991), and at the University of Minnesota Law School (1986-1991), specializing in Indian law and child welfare and abuse. In 1975 and 1976 he was chief counsel and staff director of the Minnesota Legislature's Joint House-Senate Committee investigating problems at the Minnesota State Correctional Facility at Stillwater. He died in 1991.
Court case documents, correspondence, minutes, monographs, newspaper clippings, and related papers largely documenting Becker's involvement in court actions brought by various Minnesota bands of Ojibwe Indians against the State of Minnesota relating to the violation of hunting, fishing, and wild rice harvesting rights guaranteed by treaties. They include papers regarding white citizens' committees opposed to Indian rights, and the reservations' housing authorities and legal services.
The collection also documents other aspects of this U.S. Magistrate and law professor's career, including activities in Central Minnesota Legal Services, the Legal Aid Society of Minneapolis, and the National Legal Aid and Defenders Association, and in several organizations dealing with child protection (Indian and white) and juvenile crime. There is also information on his investigation of the Minnesota state correctional facility at Stillwater.
Accession number: 14,704
Processed by: Kathryn A. Johnson, August 1993
Catalog ID number: 09-00038037
Boxes 1-5 contain legal documents relating to various claims against state agencies, the federal government, local municipalities, and individuals by the following bands of Ojibwe Indians: Fond du Lac, Grand Portage, Leech Lake, Mille Lacs, Red Lake, and White Earth. A large portion of the papers relate to the Leech Lake and White Earth bands and are concerned with controversies over hunting and fishing rights, housing, legal services, and natural resource usage on lands in and surrounding these two reservations. Included are legal summaries, motions, briefs, affidavits, some trial transcripts, correspondence, and copies of historical documents relevant to individual cases.
Supreme Court case.
Includes class papers written by Becker's students.
Central Minnesota Legal Services, incorporated in Minneapolis with branches in St. Cloud, Little Falls, and Duluth, was organized to provide legal services and protection to individuals and organizations in the Central Minnesota area. The files include articles of incorporation and bylaws, minutes of the board (1977-1981), of which Becker was a member, and financial reports, budgets, salary information, and other administrative materials.
The Legal Aid Society of Minneapolis (1967-1981) files contain resolutions, policy statements, board minutes, proposals to expand its services to central Minnesota (September 3, 1976), a report on legal representation for migrant workers (1977), and related materials.
In 1973 a Joint House-Senate Prison Investigative Report was prepared following reports of problems at the Minnesota Correctional Facility at Stillwater. The report covers many aspects of prison life: visitor regulations, recreation, prison industries, discipline, education, and mental health. Accompanying the report are news releases, newspaper clippings, media commentaries, and correspondence in reaction to the report.