Grand Opening Ceremony

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Grand Opening Ceremony WALTER SOBOLEFF BUILDING GRAND OPENING CEREMONY MAY 15, 2015 JUNEAU, ALASKA WWW.SEALASKAHERITAGE.ORG #SOBOLEFFBUILDING WALTER SOBOLEFF BUILDING This commemorative program is dedicated to past Chairs of Sealaska Heritage Institute’s Board of Trustees and Council of Traditional Scholars who have Walked Into The Forest. We are grateful for their vision and leadership in guiding Sealaska Heritage from the institute’s inception to the present day: Judson Brown Former Chair, Board of Trustees Walter Soboleff Former Chair, Board of Trustees and Council of Traditional Scholars Clarence Jackson Former Chair, Council of Traditional Scholars WATCH GRAND OPENING LIVE @ WWW.SEALASKAHERITAGE.ORG | #SOBOLEFFBUILDING MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT he construction of The building has surpassed the Walter Soboleff my dreams. It is more than TBuilding—our Box of a building. It is itself a work Knowledge—has been a of art and testimony to our dream of ours for a very long cultural survival. It has the time. We began raising funds state’s largest installation for this project in earnest of Tlingit, Haida, and a few years ago and broke Tsimshian pieces made by ground in late 2013. By the some of the most important end of 2014, our staff at Native artists of our time. Sealaska Heritage Institute It has a hand-adzed cedar had moved into the second clan house modeled after story while work on the rest traditional clan houses, of the floors continued. complete with a “fire pit” and diminutive entry. It has I am profoundly grateful a public exhibits space where to the many donors and Native people will tell the old friends who helped Native story. It has space for us on this journey and to artists, researchers, scholars, the new friends we made collections, workshops, along the way. Our project lectures, and a Native art caught the attention of large store. From the basketry foundations in Alaska and SHI PRESIDENT ROSITA KAA.HÁNI WORL. patterns in the tile work Judson Brown across the country and they to the copper accents and Former Chair, Board of Trustees came through in a big way. The curved wall that echoes an ovoid, you see pieces of U.S. Congress, the State of Alaska and the City and Native culture rippling through. The architectural Borough of Juneau appropriated millions of dollars design of the building reflects our ancient culture Walter Soboleff for this facility. Sealaska and other businesses and and art, yet it demonstrates our movement into the Former Chair, Board of Trustees and Council of Traditional Scholars organizations came forward to build with us. And future but fully grounded in our cultural values. I will never forget the artists and art collectors who Clarence Jackson made our first Tináa Art Auction such a success last And here we are, at long last, unveiling the Walter Former Chair, Council of Traditional Scholars year. Because of their generosity, we raised more than Soboleff Building. A place where the Tlingit, Haida $300,000 for the building. and Tsimshian cultures will come alive. A place for Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian people. It underscores So many individuals made donations, and we have our initial effort in making Juneau and Southeast been humbled by their support. One of the most Alaska the Northwest Coast art capital of the world. moving donations came from a destitute man who approached me, pulled a dollar from his pocket, and It’s also a place for the public. We welcome you. We said he wanted to donate it for the new building. He want you here. And we thank you. We are forever was the first individual to donate—what may have grateful to you for supporting the Walter Soboleff been his only dollar—to the facility. I can’t tell that Building and for taking this journey with us. story without tearing up. —Rosita Kaa.háni Worl WATCH GRAND OPENING LIVE @ WWW.SEALASKAHERITAGE.ORG | #SOBOLEFFBUILDING THE ROAD TO THE WALTER SOBOLEFF BUILDING he idea to build a Tlingit, culture. We began to grow by institute for the new building. THaida, and Tsimshian leaps and bounds, sometimes Sealaska first enhanced it with cultural and research center was having two people to a desk, and landscaping so it wouldn’t be an conceived in the 1990s. Staff at we recognized that we needed a eyesore in the community during Sealaska Heritage Institute spent new home to do our work. The the fundraising drive. years developing the concept only question left was where to and talking to policy makers and build. Shortly after, the institute set a potential funders about the best fundraising goal of $20 million to approach to moving forward. Then in 2004, the Skinner building the facility and launched Building in downtown Juneau a fundraising campaign. A study Prior to raising funds, we knew burned to the ground. Situated by the McDowell Group found we had to demonstrate publicly directly across from Sealaska strong support in Juneau for that our cultural programs were Plaza and in the heart of the Sealaska Heritage Institute and for sound and that we had a solid tourist district, the site offered an a new cultural center. reputation in the field. In the optimal location for the building. late 1990s, the Board of Trustees The lot sat idle for several years. In 2010, SHI embarked on a moved to transform the institute Overgrown with weeds and three-tiered process to select an from a focus on “preservation” of surrounded by an unsightly fence, architect that involved Sealaska, our language and culture to one it was infamously known in the Central Council of the of “restoration and enhancement.” Juneau as “The Pit.” Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes The objective was to integrate of Alaska, the Tlingit and Haida our language and culture into SHI began speaking publicly Regional Housing Authority, institutions serving Native about its intentions to build the Alaska Native Brotherhood Peoples and to further promote a cultural center in 2005. In and Alaska Native Sisterhood, cross cultural understanding— 2010, Sealaska, which founded and SHI trustees and staff. The recognizing that our cultural the nonprofit Sealaska Heritage, winning designer was MRV survival was also dependent on purchased the lot with the Architects, which was tasked with people’s attitudes towards Native intention of donating it to the designing the building based on 2010: LOT PURCHASED AND 2013: STAFF AND ANS GRAND PRESIDENT AT CITY GARDEN INSTALLED. 2010: SHI HIRED MRV ARCHITECTS OF JUNEAU. HALL TO TESTIFY AGAINST VICTORIAN PROPOSAL. WALTER SOBOLEFF BUILDING | GRAND OPENING CEREMONY | SEALASKA HERITAGE INSTITUTE WATCH GRAND OPENING LIVE @ WWW.SEALASKAHERITAGE.ORG | #SOBOLEFFBUILDING the objective of recognizing our past and our path into the future. The Juneau firm had done restorative work on clan houses in the past and had even donated historical photos of clan house restorations to our archives years before. In May 2011, SHI’s longtime Board of Trustees Chair, Dr. Walter Soboleff, Walked into the Forest at the age of 102. During his EARLY SCHEMATIC OF THE WALTER SOBOLEFF BUILDING BY MRV ARCHITECTS. memorial, the institute announced the new building was located in Juneau’s historic project site from the historic would be named for him. (See district, which requires property district, thereby allowing the “The Legacy of Dr. Walter owners to adhere to a Victorian- building to retain the look called Soboleff”) era design. SHI had to challenge a for in the design. proposal put forth by a historical Also in 2011, MRV Architects commission that would have By 2013, the institute had raised unveiled the design for the required the institute to use most of the $20 million needed building, which was to be clad in Victorian-era materials, such as to construct the Walter Soboleff yellow cedar and modeled after a beadboard, on the building in lieu Building. SHI hired Dawson traditional clan house. The design of yellow cedar. Construction, and in August of even included a clan house inside that year we broke ground. the building complete with cedar Ironically, the oldest architectural walls, tiers and a “fire pit” in the style in the region was not The construction phase lasted center—much as you would have acceptable under the rules from late 2013 to Spring of 2015, seen in old cedar clan houses governing the aesthetics of the and the institute’s staff moved into many years ago. historic district! the second story in December of 2014 while work on the rest of But the design led to some hitches Juneau’s assembly fixed this the floors continued. along the way. The project site conundrum by removing the 2013: STAFF AND ANS GRAND PRESIDENT AT CITY HALL TO TESTIFY AGAINST VICTORIAN PROPOSAL. 2013: GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONY. 2013: STAFF ONSITE WITH DAWSON CONSTRUCTION. 2014: STAFF MOVING IN. WALTER SOBOLEFF BUILDING | GRAND OPENING CEREMONY | SEALASKA HERITAGE INSTITUTE WATCH GRAND OPENING LIVE @ WWW.SEALASKAHERITAGE.ORG | #SOBOLEFFBUILDING THE LEGACY OF DR. WALTER SOBOLEFF he building is named for traditional Native values, especially TKaajaakwti (Dr. Walter A. Haa Shuká—honoring our past Soboleff), a Tlingit of the Yéil while preparing a better future for (Raven) moiety, L’eeneidí (Dog our children’s children. Salmon) clan. He was born in the Tlingit village of Killisnoo in 1908. He cherished his non-Native In May 2011, Dr. Soboleff “Walked friends as well and belonged to Into The Forest” at age 102, but his many civic organizations. He was accomplishments and people whose the first pastor in Juneau to open lives he touched live on. his church to all people—Natives and non Natives—at a time when He was a wise man who was dear segregation was the norm.
Recommended publications
  • Tsimshian Dictionary
    Dictionary of Shm’algyack Donna May Roberts Sealaska Heritage Institute Juneau, Alaska © 2009 by Sealaska Heritage Institute All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. ISBN: 1440401195 EAN-13:9781440401190 Library of Congress Control Number: 2008939132 Sealaska Heritage Institute One Sealaska Plaza, Suite 301 Juneau, Alaska 99801 907-463-4844 www.sealaskaheritage.org Printing: Create Space, Scotts Valley, CA, U.S.A. Front cover design: Kathy Dye Front cover artwork: Robert Hoffmann Book design and computational lexicography: Sean M. Burke Copy editing: Suzanne G. Fox, Red Bird Publishing, Inc., Bozeman, MT Table of Contents Acknowledgments ........................... 1 Introduction ..................................... 3 Dictionary of Shm’algyack Shm’algyack to English ................ 7 English to Shm’algyack ............... 67 Dictionary of Shm'algyack - 1 aam verb to be fine, good, well PLURAL: am'aam Shm'algyack to ·Aam wila howyu. I’m feeling good. ·Na sheepg nakshu ashda 'guulda English shada dowl mahlda doctor hla aam wila waald gya'win. My wife was sick the other day but the doctor said she’s aab noun my father good now. ·Yagwa goom wunsh aabdu. My aamggashgaawt verb to be of father is hunting for deer. medium size, of a good size aad noun; verb net; to seine ·Aamggashgaawt ga yeeh. The King PLURAL: ga'aad salmon was of a good size. ·Geegsh Dzon shu aad dm hoyt hla aamhalaayt noun headdress, aadmhoant. John bought a new net mask, regalia, shaman’s mask; shaman for fishing.
    [Show full text]
  • An Examination of Nuu-Chah-Nulth Culture History
    SINCE KWATYAT LIVED ON EARTH: AN EXAMINATION OF NUU-CHAH-NULTH CULTURE HISTORY Alan D. McMillan B.A., University of Saskatchewan M.A., University of British Columbia THESIS SUBMI'ITED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in the Department of Archaeology O Alan D. McMillan SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY January 1996 All rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without permission of the author. APPROVAL Name: Alan D. McMillan Degree Doctor of Philosophy Title of Thesis Since Kwatyat Lived on Earth: An Examination of Nuu-chah-nulth Culture History Examining Committe: Chair: J. Nance Roy L. Carlson Senior Supervisor Philip M. Hobler David V. Burley Internal External Examiner Madonna L. Moss Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon External Examiner Date Approved: krb,,,) 1s lwb PARTIAL COPYRIGHT LICENSE I hereby grant to Simon Fraser University the right to lend my thesis, project or extended essay (the title of which is shown below) to users of the Simon Fraser University Library, and to make partial or single copies only for such users or in response to a request from the library of any other university, or other educational institution, on its own behalf or for one of its users. I further agree that permission for multiple copying of this work for scholarly purposes may be granted by me or the Dean of Graduate Studies. It is understood that copying or publication of this work for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission.
    [Show full text]
  • First Nations Pronunciations
    A Basic Guide to Names* Listed below are the First Nations Peoples as they are generally known today with a phonetic guide to common pronunciation. Also included here are names formerly given these groups, and the language families to which they belong. People Pronunciation Have Been Called Language Family Haida Hydah Haida Haida Ktunaxa Tun-ah-hah Kootenay Ktunaxa Tsimshian Sim-she-an Tsimshian Tsimshian Gitxsan Git-k-san Tsimshian Tsimshian Nisga'a Nis-gaa Tsimshian Tsimshian Haisla Hyzlah Kitimat Wakashan Heiltsuk Hel-sic Bella Bella Wakashan Oweekeno O-wik-en-o Kwakiutl Wakashan Kwakwaka'wakw Kwak-wak-ya-wak Kwakiutl Wakashan Nuu-chah-nulth New-chan-luth Nootka Wakashan Tsilhqot'in Chil-co-teen Chilcotin Athapaskan Dakelh Ka-kelh Carrier Athapaskan Wet'suwet'en Wet-so-wet-en Carrier Athapaskan Sekani Sik-an-ee Sekani Athapaskan Dunne-za De-ney-za Beaver Athapaskan Dene-thah De-ney-ta Slave(y) Athapaskan Tahltan Tall-ten Tahltan Athapaskan Kaska Kas-ka Kaska Athapaskan Tagish Ta-gish Tagish Athapaskan Tutchone Tuchon-ee Tuchone Athapaskan Nuxalk Nu-halk Bella Coola Coast Salish Coast Salish** Coast Salish Coast Salish Stl'atl'imc Stat-liem Lillooet Interior Salish Nlaka'pamux Ing-khla-kap-muh Thompson/Couteau Interior Salish Okanagan O-kan-a-gan Okanagan Interior Salish Secwepemc She-whep-m Shuswap Interior Salish Tlingit Kling-kit Tlingit Tlingit *Adapted from Cheryl Coull's "A Traveller's Guide to Aboriginal B.C." with permission of the publisher, Whitecap Books ** Although Coast Salish is not the traditional First Nations name for the people occupying this region, this term is used to encompass a number of First Nations Peoples including Klahoose, Homalco, Sliammon, Sechelth, Squamish, Halq'emeylem, Ostlq'emeylem, Hul'qumi'num, Pentlatch, Straits.
    [Show full text]
  • Political Transitions in Alaska and the FY 2010 Budget
    Political Transitions in Alaska and the FY 2010 Budget Jerry McBeath University of Alaska Fairbanks INTRODUCTION This report discusses the factors behind the Alaska FY 2010 budget. It treats the Alaska economy in 2008 and 2009, demographic changes, and important movements in state politics, with a special focus on the national rise of one Alaska political leader—Governor Sarah Palin— and the fall of another, Senator Ted Stevens. The 2008 elections brought slight changes in the composition of the state legislature and a large change in the state’s congressional delegation. The report continues a focus on issues affecting Alaska’s future revenue stream—the natural gas pipeline—and its reputation, the state’s predator control policy. The next section of the report introduces the governor’s operating, supplemental, and capital budget requests, their revision and adoption by the legislature. Legislators paid less attention to the expenditure than the revenue side of budgets, and in the short 90-day session wrangled with the governor over federal stimulus funding, and whether it had “strings.” The final section analyzes state revenues and spending planned for FY 2010. THE ALASKA ECONOMY IN 2008 AND 2009 From the start of the state’s fiscal year on July 1, 2008 (FY 09) to the end of the fiscal year, the Alaska economy experienced extreme volatility in oil prices, but because of surplus revenues saved in previous years, Alaska was in better economic shape than most other states. Because the state is primarily dependent on royalties and taxes collected from oil/gas production, we focus on changes in oil prices before considering other resource sectors.
    [Show full text]
  • The Pacific Historian, Volume 30, Number 1 (1986)
    University of the Pacific Scholarly Commons The aP cific iH storian Western Americana 1986 The aP cific iH storian, Volume 30, Number 1 (1986) Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/pac-historian Recommended Citation "The aP cific iH storian, Volume 30, Number 1 (1986)" (1986). The Pacific isH torian. 116. https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/pac-historian/116 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Western Americana at Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in The aP cific Historian by an authorized administrator of Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Native Missionaries of the North Pacific Coast Philip McKay and Others E. Palmer Patterson Indian: A History Since 1500 (1972) and Mis­ sion on the Nass: The Evangelization of the Nishga (1860-1890) (1982). His current re­ E. Palmer Patterson is Associate Professor search is on the history of the Nishga Indi­ of History at the University of Waterloo, ans of British Columbia in contact with Ontario, Canada. Among his works on Europeans during the second half of the Canadian native peoples are The Canadian nineteenth century. White missionaries and their native converts. N WRITING THE HISTORY of nineteenth sion is seen as an example of European or Euro­ century Christian missions the tendency has American/Euro-Canadian cultural expansion and Ibeen to deal primarily with the European and its techniques of dissemination. However, native Euro-American or Euro-Canadian missionarie·s cultures have not always been destroyed, though and their exploits- as adventure, devotion , sac­ they have often been drastically altered .
    [Show full text]
  • Franz Boas and Tsimshian Mythology Ralph Maud Potlatch at Gitsegukla
    n8 BC STUDIES ... I had been thinking about the book is aimed, will be able to critically glyphs all morning after finally being assess its lack of scholarship. This can ferried across" Too bad he didn't take only lead to entrenching preconceptions the time to speak with the Edgars, who about, and ignorance of, First Nations have intimate knowledge of the area in British Columbia. The sad thing is and the tliiy'aa'a of Clo-oose. that, although this result is no doubt Serious students will find little of the furthest thing from Johnson's value in this book, and it is unlikely intention, it will be the legacy of his that the general public, at whom the book. Transmission Difficulties: Franz Boas and Tsimshian Mythology Ralph Maud Burnaby: Talonbooks, 2000.174 pp. Illus. $16.95 paper. Potlatch at Gitsegukla: William Beynon's 1Ç45 Field Notebooks Margaret Anderson and Marjorie Halpin, Editors Vancouver: UBC Press, 2000. 283 pp. Illus., maps. $29.95 paper. REGNA DARNELL University of Western Ontario OTH VOLUMES REVIEWED here respects the integrity of Beynon's parti­ explore the present utility and cipant-observation documentation, B quality of Tsimshian archival simultaneously reassessing and con- and published materials. There the re­ textualizing it relative to other extant semblance ends. The scholarly methods work on the Gitksan and closely related and standpoints are diametrically op­ peoples. Beynon was invited to the pot- posed; a rhetoric of continuity and latches primarily in his chiefly capacity, respect for tradition contrasts sharply although he was also an ethnographer with one of revolutionary discontinuity.
    [Show full text]
  • Celebrating the Life of Robert Loescher (1947–2015)
    Q4 Values in Action ShareholderA quarterly newsletter from Sealaska Celebrating the Life of Robert Loescher (1947–2015) FRIEND AND FORMER SEALASKA CEO On November 11, 2015, former Sealaska President and CEO Robert “Bob” Loescher walked into the forest. We celebrate both his 25-year contribution to Sealaska and lifetime of advocacy for Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian people. Loescher was Tlingit/ Eagle moiety from the Chookeneidi Clan. His family comes from Hoonah and Sitka. His Tlingit name was Kahtushtu’. More about Loescher, including a video, at Sealaska.com. “Bob’s mentoring nature and passion for Native land ownership and management had a profound impact on Alaska’s natural resources. His dedication to our traditional livelihoods and connection to forest and land will be never forgotten.” - Anthony Mallott, Sealaska President and CEO HIGHLIGHTS • 1968: Served on the City and Borough of Juneau Assembly at • Gave his time and energy to the Tlingit and Haida Regional the age of 21 Housing Authority, Tlingit and Haida Regional Electrical Authority, and Tlingit and Haida Housing • 1979: Started working for Sealaska in Natural Resources Development Corporation • 1997–2001: Served as Sealaska President and CEO • Served on several state boards, commissions and other • 1997: Appointed by President Clinton to serve on the National entities, including: the Alaska Industrial Development and Gambling Impact Study Commission Export Authority, the Alaska Energy Authority and the Southeast Timber Task Force, the Society of American • Laid the foundation for much of Sealaska’s land and resource management and protected Native rights to use and manage Foresters, the Alaska Forest Association, and the Resource ANCSA lands Development Council Youth Advisor Update from Barbara Dude I am very excited to share my experiences of the first five months as the Sealaska Board Youth Advisor.
    [Show full text]
  • Tongass Land and Resource Management Plan Amendment
    Environment and Effects 3 Economic and Social Environment Introduction ................................................................................................ 3-477 Regional and National Economy .............................................................. 3-478 Affected Environment ................................................................................ 3-478 Regional Economic Overview ................................................................ 3-478 Natural Resource-Based Industries ....................................................... 3-481 Environmental Consequences ................................................................. 3-506 Direct and Indirect Effects ...................................................................... 3-506 Cumulative Effects ................................................................................. 3-523 Introduction The Tongass National Forest stretches roughly 500 miles northwest from Ketchikan to Yakutat and includes approximately 80 percent of the land area in Southeast Alaska. The region is sparsely settled with an estimated 74,280 people living in more than 30 towns and villages located in and around the Forest in 2014 (Alaska Department of Labor [DOL] 2014d). The communities of Southeast Alaska depend on the Tongass National Forest in various ways, including employment in the wood products, commercial fishing and fish processing, recreation, tourism, and mining and mineral development sectors. Many residents depend heavily on subsistence hunting and fishing to
    [Show full text]
  • Tsimshian Wil'naat'ał and Society
    Tsimshian Wil’naat’ał and Society: Historicising Tsimshian Social Organization James A. McDonald Introduction ot far from Gitxaała are the people who live inside the mists of the Skeena River. Connected to Gitxaała by the familial ties of kinship and chiefly designs, theN eleven Aboriginal communities of the lower Skeena River also are part of the Tsimshian Nation. The prevailing understanding of Tsimshian social organization has long been clouded in a fog of colonialism. The resulting interpretation of the indigenous prop- erty relations marches along with the new colonial order but is out of step with values expressed in the teachings of the wilgagoosk – the wise ones who archived their knowledge in the historical narratives called adaawx and other oral sources. This chapter reviews traditional and contemporary Tsimshian social structures to argue that the land owning House (Waap1) and Clan (Wil’naat’ał) have been demoted in importance in favour of the residential and political communities of the tribe (galts’ap). Central to my argument is a critical analysis of the social importance of the contemporary Indian Reserve villages that is the basis of much political, cultural, and economic activity today. The perceived centrality of these settlements and their associated tribes in Tsimshian social structure has become a historical canon accepted by missionaries, politicians, civil servants, historians, geographers, archaeologists, and many “armchair” anthropologists. This assumption is a convention that loosens the Aboriginal ties to the land and resources and is attractive for the colonial society. It is a belief that has been normalized within the colonized worldview as the basis for relationships in civil society.
    [Show full text]
  • Resisting Linguistic Genocide: Language Revitalization and Immersion Schools in Lingít Aaní, Southeast Alaska
    RESISTING LINGUISTIC GENOCIDE: LANGUAGE REVITALIZATION AND IMMERSION SCHOOLS IN LINGÍT AANÍ, SOUTHEAST ALASKA By Meribeth E. Geiger A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of Humboldt State University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in Social Science: Environment and Community Committee Membership Dr. Sarah J. Ray, Committee Chair Dr. Matthew A. Derrick, Committee Chair Mr. Mike Hoyt, Committee Member Dr. J. Mark Baker, Program Graduate Coordinator May 2016 ABSTRACT RESISTING LINGUISTIC GENOCIDE: LANGUAGE REVITALIZATION AND IMMERSION SCHOOLS IN LINGÍT AANÍ, SOUTHEAST ALASKA Meribeth E. Geiger The issue of language revitalization is central to the viability of Alaska Native communities. In order to resist language loss and ensure that languages are transmitted to younger generations, immense social efforts are required. Immersion schools have the potential to create more self-determined educational paradigms that are defined by internal cultural values rather than external western ideals, while simultaneously working to create a new generation of fluent speakers. However, immersion education is hindered by state and federally-sanctioned requirements that reduce communities’ abilities to sustain immersion schools, which this thesis argues is an issue of social justice. These state and federal requirements are in conflict with international and national laws and agreements that guarantee Indigenous groups the right to self-determined educational paradigms in the language of their choosing. In 2015, legislation was introduced to support the creation of immersion charter schools in the State of Alaska. With Alaska’s assimilationist history, the very creation of such legislation signals a shift in Alaskan politics. Through interviews, textual and content analysis, participation observation, community action research, and grounded theory methodologies, I find that Tlingit ii efforts to establish immersion schools are hindered especially by: 1) dominant culture teacher certification, and 2) required monolingual standardized testing.
    [Show full text]
  • Tongass Proposed Forest Plan Draft
    Environment and Effects 3 Economic and Social Environment Introduction ................................................................................................ 3-441 Regional and National Economy .............................................................. 3-442 Affected Environment ................................................................................ 3-442 Regional Economic Overview ................................................................ 3-442 Natural Resource-Based Industries ....................................................... 3-445 Environmental Consequences ................................................................. 3-471 Direct and Indirect Effects ...................................................................... 3-471 Cumulative Effects ................................................................................. 3-487 Introduction The Tongass National Forest stretches roughly 500 miles northwest from Ketchikan to Yakutat and includes approximately 80 percent of the land area in Southeast Alaska. The region is sparsely settled with an estimated 74,280 people living in more than 30 towns and villages located in and around the Forest in 2014 (Alaska Department of Labor [DOL] 2014d). The communities of Southeast Alaska depend on the Tongass National Forest in various ways, including employment in the wood products, commercial fishing and fish processing, recreation, tourism, and mining and mineral development sectors. Many residents depend heavily on subsistence hunting and fishing to
    [Show full text]
  • The American Flag and the Alaska Native Brotherhood
    arts Article The American Flag and the Alaska Native Brotherhood Emily L. Moore Department of Art & Art History, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA; [email protected] Received: 30 August 2019; Accepted: 9 November 2019; Published: 2 December 2019 Abstract: The Alaska Native Brotherhood (ANB) (est. 1912) is one of the oldest Indigenous rights groups in the United States. Although critics have accused the ANB of endorsing assimilationist policies in its early years, recent scholarship has re-evaluated the strategies of the ANB to advance Tlingit and Haida governance at the same time that they pursued a strategic commitment to the settler state. Contributing to this re-appraisal of the early ANB, this article examines photographic documentation of the use of the American flag in ANB Halls from the period 1914–1945. I argue that the pairing of the American flag with Indigenous imagery in ANB Halls communicated the ANB’s commitment to U.S. citizenship and to Tlingit and Haida sovereignty. Keywords: Alaska Native Brotherhood; Alaska Native Sisterhood; American flag; Indigenous sovereignty; patriotic pluralism; Tlingit; Haida; Tsimshian The Alaska Native Brotherhood (ANB) is the oldest continuously active Indigenous rights’ organization in the United States.1 Established in 1912 by Tlingit and Tsimshian leaders at a meeting in Juneau, Alaska, and joined by the Alaska Native Sisterhood (ANS) in 1914, the ANB/ANS won an impressive list of battles in their first fifty years alone: U.S. citizenship for Alaska Natives in 1923, one year before Congress granted citizenship to all Native Americans; desegregated schools for mixed-race children in 1929, twenty-five years before Brown vs.
    [Show full text]