Willie Hensley
William L. "Willie" Hensley (born June 17, 1941), also known by the indigenous name Iġġiaġruk, is a semi-retired Democratic politician and government official in the U.S. state of Alaska. He is currently a visiting faculty member at the University of Alaska Anchorage, in addition to being a writer and lecturer. Hensley is a former member of Alaska House of Representatives and Alaska Senate, was the Democratic Party's nominee for U.S. Representative from Alaska (in 1974) and lieutenant governor of Alaska (in 1990), and is a former Democratic National Committeeman from Alaska.
In addition to running for and serving in electoral office, he has spent much of his life as an advocate for Alaska Native rights. His autobiography, Fifty Miles from Tomorrow: A Memoir of Alaska and the Real People, was published in 2009.
External links
- Hensley's Op-ed piece for the New York Times
- New York Times review of "Fifty Miles from Tomorrow"
- What Rights to Land Have the Alaska Natives?: The Primary Question – Paper written by Hensley in May 1966, shortly after graduating from George Washington University, while taking a constitutional law class at the University of Alaska taught by Jay Rabinowitz
- Willie Hensley at 100 Years of Alaska's Legislature