It has been over two weeks since my last post. Though I try to post weekly about Sitka and Tlingit history, I found it difficult to narrow this next topic down. There will be a number of topics to come relating to Mt. Edgecumbe.

Mt. Edgecumbe High School celebrated Founders Day the week of February 20, 2006, and does so annually. One of the highlights had to have been the "Gathering of Cultures" night on Wednesday, February 22. Along with all the Tlingit dance groups in Sitka, the Aleut, Yupik, Inupiat, and Athabaskan dancers performed that night. The historic B.J. McGillis Gymnasium was filled to near capacity as the basketball court was turned into a traditional stage for the dancers, many of them Edgecumbe students.

Edgecumbe is a boarding school run by the State of Alaska. It's name comes from a dormant volcano near Sitka (Actually, when a local hears the name Mt. Edgecumbe, they might identify it with the school, the mountain, or Japonski Island). The majority of its students are Alaska Native from all over the state. However, until about 1982, it was a federally run facility specifically for Natives. The federal funding was cut that year and it shut down for 2 years. In 1985, the state reopened the school with an aggressive and innovative curriculum based on Pacific Rim studies. Enrollment is competitive due in part to its acclaimed focus on Total Quality Management.

At its peak, Edgecumbe High School's largest enrollment was around 700 students. Located on Japonski Island (future topic), it is one of three high schools in the Sitka area. In its early days, there were many federal employees housed on the island, and there were many more houses than there are now. The facility was built during World War II as a naval military base.

After the war, the facility was vacated by the military and the Alaska Native Service (ANS) took over its management. Later, the ANS turned into the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). And in 1947, it was opened to educate Native students from all over Alaska whose villages didn't have high schools. When the school filled up quickly, other schools were opened in the states such as Chemawa, Oregon and Chilocco, Oklahoma. Issues arose about the schools stemming from loss of contact with the family and culture. As a result, another regional vocational school opened in Nome; the William E. Beltz school. Further opposition to the expansion of Mt. Edgecumbe school in 1968 led to other regional schools opening in Kodiak (1968) and Bethel (1972).

Edgecumbe has played a large role in many of the elder members of my Tlingit family. My parents met at Edgecumbe. My father transferred from Wrangell Insitute and was part of the only eighth grade class at Edgecumbe. He graduated from and also learned how to make dentures there. My mother earned her LPN certification from the nursing program it offered. Both of them made a living either at the school or at the nearby health care facility. Other traditional vocations were offered by the school ranging from carpentry to automotive.

My aunt took advantage of an opportunity to become a teacher through a program offered at Edgecumbe, and during her subsequent teaching career, was named Teacher of the Year for Alaska. Her brother also graduated from the school and went on to be a legislator and leader of Sealaska, the regional Native corporation for Southeast Alaska. As a matter of fact, ANCSA was built on the mindshare of the Alaska Federation of Natives, to which many boarding schools' alumni belonged.

Edgecumbe has expanded its enrollment from 370 students in 2004, to 420 students in 2005. The growing number of students moves them from the 3A category to the 4A category in the interscholastic statewide status. This becomes interesting because their sports teams, a whole topic in itself, may be competing with the state's best. It can be said that the Mt. Edgecumbe Braves are again the envy of the state. There will be more to come later on the rest of Japonski Island's treasures.

In the late 1990s, I watched a documentary called The Land is Ours. It focused on Sitka and the Tlingit people's civil rights struggles in the early 1900s. The key figure in this film was William Paul. He was the first Tlingit lawyer in the United States. He and his brother, Louis, were instrumental in growing the Alaska Native Brotherhood into a political force. They used this along with William's power in Alaska politics to desegregate Natives in Alaska's public schools. His story, as portrayed in the documentary, was very influential to me. After seeing it, it lit a fire that drove me back to school to get a bachelors degree.

William Paul's legacy paved the way for other Natives to combat racism. He deserves, and will get, his own entry on this blog. However, today, I want to focus on Elizabeth Peratrovich. Her story has been told on numerous websites on the Internet, but I would like to dedicate today's post to this great woman.

She has been described as a beautiful, educated, strong-willed Tlingit woman. In 1941, she and her husband were president of the Alaska Native Sisterhood and Brotherhood Grand Camps, respectively. They had moved from Klawock, where her husband, Roy, was from, to Juneau; thinking there was a better life to be had for their kids.

When they found a home they liked, they were told they could not lease the home because they were Native. Other discrimination was found all over the city, including schools, restaurants, theaters, etc. The Peratrovichs decided to use their power as officials of the ANB/ANS to write a letter to the Governor. Because then Governor Ernest Gruening had already been alarmed by the discrimination he saw throughout Alaska, gaining his alliance took little effort. He knew, however, that he could only stand by the Natives. It was the Natives' fight to win.

And this is where Roy and Elizabeth Peratrovich excelled. They both lobbied other Natives to join the battle against discrimination. Together with the Governor and other allies, they began crafting legislation to be voted upon by the legislature. It had been turned down in a fierce battle in 1943.

But the Governor was able to get the house and senate enlarged. After doing this, he urged the ANB/ANS to go to the polls and elect Native leadership. They did, and in the fall of 1944, they passed Resolution Number 2 to battle discrimination. Many Alaska Natives know this story well.

In February, 1945, on the day the anti-discrimination bill was to be voted on, it drew a standing room only crowd. The House of Representatives passed the bill with little opposition. However, the Senate debated for two hours. One senator, Allen Shattuck, was quoted as saying: "Who are these people, barely out of savagery, who want to associate with us whites with 5,000 years of recorded civilization behind us?" Another said he did not want to sit next to an Eskimo in the theater because "they smelled."

Roy Peratrovich was invited to speak on behalf of the Natives. He noted how the Governor had recognized the existence of discrimination in a report to the Secretary of the Interior. He also pointed out present members of the Senate from Fairbanks who supported a program for action on behalf of Natives. He said, "Only Indians can know how it is to be discriminated against. Either you are for discrimination or you are against it accordingly as you vote on this bill."

When he was done, a call was made to anyone present to voice their views. Elizabeth Peratrovich came forward. Her presence was met with a tense silence. She spoke these words:

"I would not have expected that I, who am barely out of savagery, would have to remind gentleman with 5,000 years of recorded civilization behind them of our Bill of Rights. When my husband and I came to Juneau and sought a home in a nice neighborhood where our children could play happily with our neighbors' children, we found such a house and arranged to lease it. When the owners learned that we were Indians, they said 'no.' Would we be compelled to live in the slums?

There are three kinds of persons who practice discrimination. First, the politician who wants to maintain an inferior minority group so that he can always promise them something. Second, the Mr. and Mrs. Jones who aren't quite sure of their social position and who are nice to you on one occasion, and can't see you on others depending on who they are with. Third, the great superman who believes in the superiority of the white race."

She continued that discrimination suffered by herself and her friends had "forced the finest of our race to associate with white trash." When asked by Senator Shattuck if passing the anti-discrimination bill would end discrimination, she replied: "Do your laws against larceny and even murder prevent those crimes? No law will eliminate crimes but at least you as legislators can assert to the world that you recognize the evil of the present situation and speak your intent to help us overcome discrimination."

The crowd roared their approval, and history was made on that day, February 8, 1945. The anti-discrimination bill was passed by the Senate, 11-5. In 1998, the Alaska Legislature declared February 16 as Elizabeth Peratrovich Day, making it a state holiday.

Elizabeth and Roy's fight for equality continues to resonate in Alaska's history. With strong Native leaders like them and William Paul in our past, many of us are compelled by their stories. Surely they have influenced people of all races with their courage to stand up for what is right. In a small way, I do my best to honor them by learning as much as I can about what they fought for and how I can make a difference. Stories like this drove me to a college education and prompted me to make a website dedicated to Tlingit people.

Subsistence. This is a re-occurring theme you will see on this blog. In the Tlingit sense, it is the way we have lived off the land for thousands of years. Today, it is easy to go to the grocery store and load our pantries up. But most of us still enjoy living off the land as much as possible. It's important for us to keep that aspect of our past alive.

Sitka is on an island in Southeast Alaska. We are surrounded by the Pacific Ocean. Opportunities to live off the land are many. Tlingit people are well known for being fish lovers. However, there are many other foods we harvest throughout the year.

For instance, this time of the year, as we wait for the high-profile herring roe I talked about in my previous post, we might do some clam digging. We've noticed the trollers fishing in the channel, and that usually means there are king salmon to be caught. Deer season just ended. We can drop shrimp and crab pots nearby. And this is just the slow winter season.

Yet, as I said before, these things we've done for thousands of years are things we constantly have to defend. Recently we were in danger of losing our "rural" status for Sitka. The argument is that a town of almost 10,000 people with all the modern amenities a large city has shouldn't be considered rural. But there are barely 2,500 Natives in this town. The Federal Subsistence Board fortunately voted 3-3 to not review Sitka's status. Since a majority vote was needed, we are able to keep this status for another 10 years.

As part of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971, promises were made to Alaska Natives stating that the Alaska Constitution and US Department of Interior would protect our subsistence practices and subsistence lands. In 1980, ANILCA was passed by Congress to fulfill those promises. In a nutshell, ANILCA required the state to give preference to rural (there's that word again) residents on federal land. If this was not done, the feds would take over management of the lands.

Well, the State of Alaska contended it was against the state constitution to grant rural preference. Consequently, the federal government took control of management of federal lands in 1990. There have been attempts by the state to regain management, but those efforts have come up short. A court decision in 1995 by the US Court of Appeals helped extend the feds' control to freshwater bodies alongside federal public lands. This ruling led to their management of subsistence fisheries.

My uncle talks about our respect for the resources we use in this audio clip. This recording was taken a few days ago during his "All Things are Connected" presentation in my wife's high school class. Subsistence is important to us. It connects us with our past in ways nothing else in today's world can.