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First Contact
The first official contact was by Vitus Bering, an explorer from Russia. During the first interaction with Alaskan Natives, Russia discovered that Alaska was a gold mine for them. Fur was a in very high demand in Russia, and unlike the Aleut people, they would only use the fur. Aleuts would be forced into going against their beliefs and hunt animals for the Siberian Fur traders would hold their families hostage if the Aleuts didn't hunt for them. This lasted until the 1850's. -
The Nelson Act
This act legally segregated Alaska schools. This was legally allowed to happen because the schools that allowed the white/mixed blood children were funded by the local community or territorial gov. While Alaska Native education was funded for by federal gov. As a results, this lead to a number of lawsuits due to the segregation of natives. With the lower income of the federally funded school, Native children's needs weren't being met and their education was subpar, compared to the white schools. -
Alaska Native Brotherhood
This group was created to give Natives a voice. The group focused its energy on achieving U.S citizenships, promoting Native solidarity, abolishing racial prejudice,and securing economic equality through the recognition Native land titles and the preservation of the salmon stock. The ANB became an important role in Alaska Natives fight for citizenship. -
Alaska Native Brotherhood pt 2
William Paul, the leader, increased the groups interest in politics and he met with officials to discuss the fish traps in the channel of Alaska. Paul wanted to eliminate them, due to the fish camps used by Alaska Natives during the summers.The ANB was ignored. Although the efforts caused a effect, the ANB was seen as a political voice for the Alaska Native community. This caused the ANB to reach out to labor leaders establishing themselves as a labor union and bargaining agent. -
Citizenship Act
Alaska Natives weren't second class citizens, because they were considered citizens at all.The treaty: "The uncivilized tribes will be subject to such laws and regulations as the United States may, from time to time, adopt in regard to aboriginal tribes of that country." It wasn't until 1915, the territorial legislature said that Alaska Natives who abandoned their Native culture and adopted “civil” habits would be a citizen. Natives would be eligible for a certificate by going to a local school. -
Citizenship Act Pt 2
The act said: "Such examination shall broadly cover the general qualifications of the applicant as to an intelligent exercise of the obligations of suffrage, a total abandonment of any tribal customs or relationship, and the facts regarding the applicant's adoption of the habits of a civilized life," Teachers seemed qualified to judge the Natives ability to be civil. After approved, the Native person needed 5 white people, who were in the state at least a year, to say they were civil. -
Forced Evacution
In response to the japaneses aggression in the aleutians, the U.S. evacuated 881 Unangax people from the Aleutian islands. evacuating about nine villages onto a crowded cargo ship. From the ship, the villagers watched the U.S. service men bun down the house so the Japaneses wouldn't be able to use the empty structure. The Unangax were put in "duration camps" in old caners and other places not suitable for living. Many were allowed only one suitcase so they didn't bring warm clothes for winter -
Forced Evacuation pt 2.
On the Aleutians, the Unangax were used to vast open skies due to the little amount of forest on the islands, but in the southeast, all there is is dense forest. This dark, damp, area was their home for two years. Illness spread through the camps and there was no medical assistance offered. The Unangax were ignored when they asked the gov. to give them medical care. Despite the internment, the Unangax was able to find jobs and build a better life, fixing up their living quarters. -
Alberta Schenck pt 2
Alberta's request letter became an article in The Nome Nugget, a local newspaper. Later Schenck went on a date to the theater, with a white Army sergeant. They sat in the white only section, and both refused to move when she was asked to move section. Schenck was put in jail, which caused the Inupiats to rally together against her injustice and boycotted the theater until she was released. She wrote a letter to the Governor. He wrote back, vowing that no one would be treated like that in Alaska -
Alberta Schenck
Born in Nome, Alaska, Alberta Schenck had an Inupiat mother and a white father. She was born in a time where indigenous people were subjected to segregation, businesses had the right to have white only sections in their establishments. When Schenck was 16, she worked for the Alaska Dream Theater. Her job was to usher non-white moviegoers to their appropriate seating area. She requested a change in the theaters policies, and was fired shortly after. -
Anti-Discrimination act
Made possible by Elizabeth Peratrovich, this act made all public establishments non-segregated, this act had the full support of Governor Ernest Gruening. This act was ground breaking, Alaska was the first territory or state to pass a law like this, making this one of the most memorable legislation in Alaska's history. The Woolworth sit-ins occurred a decade and a half after the Anti-Discrimination act was passed in Alaska, just shows how radical this act was, and was ahead of its time. -
Anti-Discrimination act pt 2
With this new, revolutionary, law meant Alaskans were enlighten or even law-abiding? Racism still existed and couldn't be changed over night. Openly displayed discrimination in public establishments disappeared due to the criminalization of "whites only" signs, which was finable at $250, which in $3,390 in 2017, and 30 days in jail. With such enforcements, alaskans followed the law and it has only a few court cases of discriminations, most of them happened 30 years after the act. -
ANCSA
Since colonization, the indigenous people in Alaska have been denied the right to their land. While there was several documents saying that the Natives could have some of their land, but non have ever addressed exactly how much land belongs to the Natives people, or the government, or how much land should just be left alone. In 1971, President Nixon sign the largest land settlement for its time. -
ANCSA pt 2
Corporations were established for profit of the Alaska Natives, this created economic stability, since ANCSA provided none. The major players for ANCSA were Conservation groups, Oil companies, State Gov., Federal Govt., and Alaskan Natives. All of the groups gained something. The Natives settled for $962.5 million, which was the best offer congress made. Most importantly, they got the an official document about their land being theirs, all 44 million acres of it.