Alaska Natives

During an expedition, Vitus Bering spotted Alaska.[7] Native Alaskans first came into contact with Russians in the 18th century. Time of contact with Russians varied throughout each native group since the Native Alaskan groups were spread throughout Alaska.[8] Arriving from Siberia by ship in the mid-eighteenth century, Russians began to trade with Alaska Natives in what became known as the Aleutian Islands. They started new settlements around trading posts, and Russian Orthodox missionaries were part of these. The Russian missionaries were the first persons to translate Christian scripture into Native languages, such as Tlingit. In the 21st century, the numerous congregations of Russian Orthodox Christians in Alaska reflect this early history, as they are generally composed mostly of Alaska Natives.

Rather than hunting and harvesting marine life themselves, the Sibero-Russian promyshlenniki forced the Aleuts to do the work for them, enserfing the Aleuts.[9][10] As word spread of the riches in furs to be had, competition among Russian companies increased. Catherine the Great, who became Empress in 1763, proclaimed good will toward the Aleut and urged her subjects to treat them fairly. The growing competition between the trading companies, which merged into fewer, larger and more powerful corporations, created conflicts that aggravated the relations with the indigenous populations. Over the years, the situation became catastrophic for the Aleuts, as well as other Native Alaskan people who were impacted by Russian contact.

As the animal populations declined, the Aleuts, already dependent on the new barter economy created by their fur trade with the Russians, were increasingly coerced into taking greater risks in the dangerous waters of the North Pacific to hunt for more otter. As the Shelikhov-Golikov Company and later Russian-American Company developed as a monopoly, it used skirmishes and systematic violence as a tool of colonial exploitation of the indigenous people. When the Aleut revolted and won some victories, the Russians retaliated, killing many. They also destroyed the peoples' boats and hunting gear, leaving them no means of survival.

The greatest mortality was caused by the Aleuts' encounters with new diseases: during the first two generations (1741/1759-1781/1799 AD) of Russian contact, 80 percent of the Aleut population died from Eurasian infectious diseases. These had been endemic among the Europeans for centuries, but the Aleut had no immunity against the new diseases.[11]

Yupik mother and child, Nunivak Island, c. 1929; photographed by Edward S. Curtis.

The Russian Tsarist government expanded into Indigenous territory in present-day Alaska for its own geopolitical reasons. It consumed natural resources of the territory during the trading years, and Russian Orthodoxy was evangelized.[12] Their movement into these populated areas of Indigenous communities altered the demographic and natural landscape.

Historians have suggested that the Russian-American Company exploited Indigenous peoples as a source of inexpensive labor.[12] The Russian-American Company not only used Indigenous populations for labor during the fur trade, but also held some as hostages to acquire iasak.[12] Iasak, a form of taxation imposed by the Russians, was a tribute in the form of otter pelts.[12] It was a taxation method the Russians had previously found useful in their early encounter with Indigenous communities of Siberia during the Siberian fur trade.[12] Beaver pelts were also customary to be given to fur traders upon first contact with various communities.[13]

The Russian-American Company used military force on Indigenous families, taking them as hostage until male community members produced furs for them.[12] Otter furs on Kodiak Island and Aleutian Islands enticed the Russians to start these taxations.[12] Robbery and maltreatment in the form of corporal punishment and the withholding of food was also present upon the arrival of fur traders.[14] Catherine the Great dissolved the giving of tribute in 1799, but her government initiated mandatory conscription of Indigenous men between the ages of 18 and 50 to become seal hunters strictly for the Russian American Company.[12] This mandatory labor gave the Russian American Company an edge in competition with American and British fur traders.[12] But the conscription separated men from their families and villages, thus altering and breaking down communities.[15] With able-bodied men away on the hunt, villages were left with little protection as only women, children, and the elderly remained behind.[15]

In addition to changes that came with conscription, the spread of disease also altered the populations of Indigenous communities.[16] Although records kept in the period were scarce, it has been said that 80% of the pre-contact population of the Aleut people were gone by 1800.[16]

Relationships between Indigenous women and fur traders increased as Indigenous men were away from villages. This resulted in marriages and children that would come to be known as Creole peoples, children who were Indigenous and Russian.[15] To reduce hostilities with Aleutian communities, it became policy for fur traders to enter into marriage with Indigenous women. The Creole population increased in the territory controlled by the Russian American Company.[15]

The growth of the Russian Orthodox Church was another important tactic in the colonization and conversion of Indigenous populations.[17] Ioann Veniaminov, who later became Saint Innocent of Alaska, was an important missionary who carried out the Orthodox Church's agenda to Christianize Indigenous populations.[17] The church encouraged Creole children to follow Russian Orthodox Christianity, while the Russian American Company provided them with an education.[17] Creole people were believed to have high levels of loyalty toward the Russian crown and Russian American Company.[17] After completing their education, children were often sent to Russia, where they would study skills such as mapmaking, theology, and military intelligence.[17] In the 1850s Russia lost much of its interest on Alaska.[18]

Metlakahtla brass band

Alaska has many natural resources, which, including its gold, caught the attention of the United States.[18] In 1867, the United States purchased Alaska from Russia. It did not consider the wishes of Native Alaskans or view them as citizens.[19] The land that belonged to Alaska Natives was considered to be "open land", which could be claimed by white settlers without redress to the Alaska Natives living there.[19] The only schools for Alaska Natives were those founded by religious missionaries. [20] Most white settlers did not understand the sophisticated cultures the Alaska Natives had developed to live in challenging environment and considered them to be inferior to European Americans, correlating with white supremacist beliefs.[21]

The Klondike Gold Rush occurred in the 1896–1898, increasing white presence in Alaska as well as discriminatory practices.[22] Americans imposed racial segregation and discriminatory laws (similar to Jim Crow laws) that limited Alaska Native opportunities and participation in culture, treating them as second-class citizens.[23] With the imposition of discriminatory laws, segregation amongst Alaskan Natives and Americans occurred; for example, "whites only" signs excluded natives from entering buildings. There were also segregated schools. An 1880 court case describes a child not allowed to attend a school with Americans because his stepfather was native. A child that was part native and part American would only be allowed to attend a school with American children if the family has abandoned their culture. This means that they could no longer speak their native language, wear traditional native clothing, be amongst other natives, eat native foods, or practice any native religion.[24]

In 1912, the Alaska Native Brotherhood (ANB) was formed to help fight for citizenship rights.[25] The Alaska Native Sisterhood (ANS) was created in 1915.[26] Also in 1915, the Alaska Territorial legislature passed a law allowing Alaskan Natives the right to vote – but on the condition that they give up their cultural customs and traditions.[27] The Indian Citizenship Act, passed in 1924, gave all Native Americans United States citizenship.[27]

ANB began to hold a great deal of political power in the 1920s.[28] They protested the segregation of Alaska Natives in public areas and institutions, and also staged boycotts.[29] Alberta Schenck (Inupiaq) staged a well-publicized protest against segregation in a movie theater in 1944.[30] With the help of Elizabeth Peratrovich (Tlingit), the Alaska Equal Rights Act of 1945 was passed, ending segregation in Alaska.[31]

In 1942, during World War II, the United States forced evacuation of around nine hundred Aleuts from the Aleutian Islands.[32] The idea was to remove the Aleuts from a potential combat zone during World War II for their own protection, but European Americans living in the same area were not forced to leave.[32] The removal was handled so poorly that many Aleuts died after they were evacuated; the elderly and children had the highest mortality rates. [33] Survivors returned to the islands to find their homes and possessions destroyed or looted.[32] Civil rights activists such as Alberta Schenck Adams and Elizabeth Peratrovich protested discriminatory laws against Native Alaskans with what were effectively sit-ins and lobbying.[34]

The Alaska Equal Rights Act of 1945, the first anti-discrimination state law in the U.S., occurred as a result of these protests.[35][36] It entitled all Alaskans to "full and equal enjoyment" of public areas and businesses,[37] a ban on segregating signs,[37] with discriminatory actions punishable by a $250 fine and up to 30 days in jail.[38]

Alaska became part of the United States in 1959 upon President Dwight D. Eisenhower recognizing Alaska as the 49th state.[18]

A Koyukon man in traditional tribal dress

In 1971, with the support of Alaska Native leaders such as Emil Notti, Willie Hensley, and Byron Mallott, the U.S. Congress passed the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), which settled land and financial claims for lands and resources which the Alaska Natives had lost to European-Americans. It provided for the establishment of thirteen Alaska Native Regional Corporations to administer those claims. Similar to the separately defined status of the Canadian Inuit and First Nations in Canada, which are recognized as distinct peoples, in the United States, Alaska Natives or Native Alaskans are in some respects treated separately by the government from other Native Americans in the United States. This is in part related to their interactions with the U.S. government which occurred in a different historical period than its interactions during the period of westward expansion during the 19th century.

Europeans and Americans did not have sustained encounters with the Alaska Natives until the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries when many were attracted to the region in gold rushes. The Alaska Natives were not allotted individual title in severalty to land under the Dawes Act of 1887 but were instead treated under the Alaska Native Allotment Act of 1906.[39]

It was repealed in 1971, following ANSCA, at which time reservations were ended. Another characteristic difference is that Alaska Native tribal governments do not have the power to collect taxes for business transacted on tribal land, per the United States Supreme Court decision in Alaska v. Native Village of Venetie Tribal Government (1998). Except for the Tsimshian, Alaska Natives no longer hold reservations but do control some lands. Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, Alaska Natives are reserved the right to harvest whales and other marine mammals.

• Cole, Terrence M. (November 1992). "Jim Crow in Alaska: The Passage of the Alaska Equal Rights Act". Western Historical Quarterly. 23 (4): 429–449. doi:10.2307/970301. JSTOR 970301. S2CID 163528642 – via JSTOR.
• Tucker, James Thomas; Landreth, Natalie A.; Lynch, Erin Dougherty (2017). "'Why Should I Go Vote Without Understanding What I Am Going to Vote For?' The Impact of First Generation Voting Barriers on Alaska Natives". Michigan Journal of Race and Law. 22 (2): 327–382. doi:10.36643/mjrl.22.2.why. S2CID 149117802.