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News Articles
The following recent articles feature programs and people sponsored or supported by Sealaska Heritage Institute:
LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS
Fernando Rado's family got a whole lot bigger Thursday, when he found out
through the results of DNA testing that he is a descendant of an ancient
man whose remains were found in a glacier nearly 10 years ago. The news
also answered a question many people ponder throughout their lives: Where
am I from? "There's a globe of the Earth and there's a point right there
where you come from ... it's a lock in the picture for me," Rado said...(more)
(05-4-08)
Ed Schoenfeld, CoastAlaska - Juneau
JUNEAU, ALASKA Remains of a centuries-old man found in a receding
Canadian icefield have been linked to Southeast Alaska Natives.
Organizations based in the Yukon and Juneau say DNA testing demonstrates
the close historic connections between tribal groups on both sides of the
border.
Smithsonian Bound
By Eric Morrison
JUNEAU EMPIRE
The copper sun embedded in the mouth of the raven carved into the canoe's
prow glistened Wednesday as the paddles from nine men rhythmically sliced
through the water of Twin Lakes. Observing from the dock on the lake's
edge, lead artist Doug Chilton noted that many of the men testing the
unnamed 26-foot canoe bound for the Smithsonian Museum had never paddled
before...(more)
(05-01-08)
Acknowledging differences
creates accepting society
Speaker explains
misconceptions about Alaska Natives
Mary Lochner
THE NORTHERN LIGHT (University of Alaska Anchorage)
Issue date: 2/19/08 Section:
Features
Sealaska Heritage Institute president Rosita Worl gave a talk about the
history and reconstruction of Alaska Native identity Feb. 13 in the
Student Union. She spoke of the need for Natives and non-Natives to
understand cultural differences in order to promote understanding and
harmony, rather than ignoring differences and allowing misunderstandings
to fester.
Institute
posts Soboleff documents online
Newest donation from Juneau architectural firm includes 150 pictures from the 1930s
KIM MARQUIS
JUNEAU EMPIRE
While Southeast Alaska Natives traditionally passed history down by sharing elaborate stories, the Sealaska Heritage Institute is finding out that handing on the culture these days requires more than just a good ear. Artifacts are being donated with increasing frequency to the Juneau-based institute, and floor plans are under review for a new storage space, reading room and office that will be dedicated to making historical items and information available to the public...(more) (01-16-08)
ALAN SUDERMAN
Southeast Native students vie for Sealaska scholarships
Ed Schoenfeld, CoastAlaska - Juneau
January 7, 2008
Alaska Native students with roots in Southeast have another chance to
get financial assistance for their studies. The Sealaska Heritage
Institute is taking applications for its annual scholarship program...(Listen)
(01-07-08)
SitNews
A Juneau man has donated four ancient stone objects to Sealaska Heritage
Institute (SHI), marking one of the most significant donations of cultural
items received by the nonprofit in recent years...(more)
(12-26-07)
New
online venture strives to preserve Tlingit language
JOHN RYAN
KTOO-FM
Everybody talks about the weather, but not many people do it in
Tlingit. That could change a bit with some new online learning tools
produced in Juneau...(Listen)
(11-26-07)
ERIC MORRISON
RACHEL D'ORO
The Associated Press
ANCHORAGE - Human remains estimated to be more than 10,000 years old
that were found in a cave in the Tongass National Forest rightfully
belong to the southeast Alaska Tlingit tribes, the federal government
said. Now, 11 years after they were found during a U.S. Forest Service
archaeological survey, the remains will be returned to the tribe, agency
officials announced Friday. It will be the first time a federal agency
has handed custody of such ancient finds over to an indigenous group
under the 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act,
they said...(more)
(10-21-07)
SHI Sponsors Latseen Basketball Camps
Some Southeast students are learning to play basketball in Tlingit. Sport
camps sponsored this summer by the Sealaska Heritage Institute are mixing
language skills and court time. More camps may be offered next year.
CoastAlaska’s Ed Schoenfeld reports...(Listen)
(08-02-07)
Southeast Native groups join protest against university's decision
KORRY KEEKER
Groups around the country, including some in Southeast
Alaska, are protesting the University of California-Berkeley's decision to
eliminate the unit that restores Native artifacts to their original
owners...(more)
(07-27-07)
By Abby LaForce
For CCW
By Nelson Pressley
Special To The Washington Post
Monday, March 12, 2007; Page C01
The Southeastern Alaskan language Tlingit -- pronounced "klinkit" -- isn't especially full of sound and fury in the "Macbeth" of Juneau's Perseverance Theatre. But that's because in this production, which has been carefully imbued with Tlingit symmetry and ceremony by director Anita Maynard-Losh, the most bloody-minded speeches are rendered in English...(more)
Tlingit Macbeth in Washington, D.C.
By WAMU-FM (public radio in Washington D.C.)
(Listen) (03-16-07)
Perseverance to Do 'Macbeth' in
Tlingit
Associated Press Writer
JUNEAU, Alaska —
Jake Waid rubbed his bloodshot
eyes, blankly stared at a script
for Shakespeare's "Macbeth,"
then resumed an unfamiliar
struggle with a set of lines. "Tleil
tsu tlax yei l kusheek'eiyi ye
yageeyi kwasatinch, ch'a aan
yak'ei," he read slowly of what
would normally be, "So foul and
fair a day I have not seen."...(more)
(Sponsored by SHI)
Exploring Cultural Ties
Perseverance Theatre's Tlingit
version of 'Macbeth' to open in Washington, D.C.
By ANNE SUTTON
The Associated Press
Battles are waged to the beat of drums, witches slink across the stage as
land otters, and Banquo's ghost dons a raven mask in a Tlingit language
adaptation of Shakespeare's brutal and bloody tale of a murderous Scottish
lord. Sprung from the rain forests of Southeast Alaska, this Washington,
D.C., bound production of "Macbeth" marries the Elizabethan tragedy with
an ancient indigenous culture - an elaborate conceit that its players say
brings new life to both worlds...(more)
(Sponsored by SHI)
Linking to their
past, providing for the future; 15 students learn Tlingit weaving and
carving
By BRITTANY RETHERFORD
JUNEAU EMPIRE
Fifteen Hoonah residents have been busy honing skills that not only
connect them to their past, but also help ensure their financial futures.
They have been learning Tlingit weaving and carving as part of a
three-year art program under the auspices of the Sealaska Heritage
Institute, the nonprofit arm of the Juneau-based regional Native
corporation, Sealaska...(more)
(01-07)
Juneau residents and business
owners, prepare to mark your 2008 calendars - the Sealaska Heritage
Institute has set the dates for its biennial bash, Celebration, for June
5-7.
The
three-day cultural event will take place in Juneau, as it has since it was
first kicked off in 1982, Institute President Rosita Worl said. The board
of trustees officially set the dates in a meeting last week...(more)
(10-06)
Young Natives go to culture
'boot camp'
Sharing Heritage
By ELIZABETH BLUEMINK
JUNEAU EMPIRE
About 40 young Alaska Native
recruits are finishing up an
intense, two-week leadership
camp in Juneau this week. The
students - all descendants of
Sealaska Corp. shareholders -
stretched their knowledge with
rigorous lectures about Native
heritage...(more)
(08-06)
SHI
Announces Juried Art Competition Winners
A former Juneau weaver now living in Colorado has won a major Southeast
Alaska Native art contest. Clarissa Hudson’s “Copper Man,” a set of
regalia including a Ravenstail robe, earned Best of Show in the third
Sealaska Juried Art Competition. Other winners include David Boxley of
Washington State and Lani Hotch of Klukwan. CoastAlaska’s Ed Schoenfeld
attended the competition’s awards ceremony, spoke with the artists and
filed this report. (Listen)
(6-06)
Who
makes the best dried black seaweed in Southeast Alaska? Ivan Williams of
Angoon, according to a panel of traditional food experts. Williams won
the third biennial black seaweed contest sponsored by the Sealaska
Heritage Institute as part of Celebration ’06, which wrapped up over the
weekend. Karen Bernhardt of Hydaburg placed second, Peggy Williams of
Angoon won third place and Katherine Smith of Kake was given an
honorable mention. CoastAlaska’s Ed Schoenfeld attended the judging and
prepared this report on what the experts say makes the best dried black
seaweed.
By Ed Schoenfeld, CoastAlaska
Radio
(Listen)
(6-06)
By Ed Schoenfeld, CoastAlaska
Radio
(Listen)
(6-06)
Welcoming the
Celebration
Sealaska Heritage Institute has created seven interactive Tlingit-language
movies with Flash Media software to help engage students at a critical
time for the Native culture, officials said. "It's kind of taking this old
knowledge and using the modern technology to pass it on," said Daphne
Wright, a Tlingit-language teacher for the Hoonah School District...(more)
(4-16-06)
Forum
notes need to
still raise retention rates, reduce dropouts and increase test scores
JUNEAU EMPIRE
It may be a long road to travel to reach its destination, but the
University of Alaska Southeast Native Education Working Group is heading
in the right direction, said Joe Nelson. "When you look at the statistics,
the retention rates, the dropout rates and performance on tests, there is
a long way to go still," said Nelson, the director of Preparing Indigenous
Teachers and Administrators for Alaska Schools (PITAAS) program at UAS.
"But, the good thing here is that there is discussion among key entities
that are committed to improving to making progress....(more)
(4-9-06)
New exhibit in Washington
includes Tlingit and Haida
objects
By Joel Southern, APRN
WASHINGTON, DC (2006-02-03)
Tlingit and Haida objects are
part of ``Listening to Our
Ancestors,'' an exhibit of art
by North Pacific Coast tribes
that opened Friday at the
Smithsonian National Museum of
the American Indian in
Washington, D.C. © Copyright
2006 APRN (Listen)
(2-7-06)
Longtime Kake fisherman Clarence Jackson, 71, has served on the board of
Sealaska Heritage Institute for almost 20 years and is a respected elder
and oral historian. But he was humbled when the National Museum of the
American Indian invited him to curate the Tlingit section of "Listening
to Our Ancestors: The Art of Native Life along the North Pacific Coast,"
an 11-community exhibit that opens at noon Friday in Washington, D.C...
By KORRY KEEKER
Miranda Worl, 8, a member of the
Auke Bay and Mendenhall River Tlingit Dancers performs on Saturday
during a ceremony to present two painted Tlingit panels that will be
hung at the Auke Bay Shelter next summer...(more)
(12-11-05) (Photo of art project sponsored by SHI)
Native art shines at Ninth
Annual Arts and Crafts Fair
By ERIC MORRISON
JUNEAU EMPIRE
Chilkat blanket weaver Anna
Brown Ehlers understands the
true meaning of patience. One of
several artists at the Ninth
Annual Arts and Crafts Fair at
the Juneau-Douglas City Museum,
Brown Ehlers spent Saturday
putting the finishing touches on
a commissioned blanket that has
taken her a year and a half to
complete...(more)
(12-4-05)
Prized
tunic on its way home to Chilkat Valley
By TOM MORPHET
CHILKAT VALLEY NEWS
A Chilkat Brown Bear tunic is
scheduled to arrive in Klukwan Friday, brought by clan leader
and former village council president Joe Hotch. When it arrives here, the
woven, full-length garment will be only the ninth tunic in
Tlingit possession, said Harold Jacobs, cultural resource
specialist for Tlingit-Haida Central Council in Juneau. "It’s a beautiful tunic," said
Jacobs. Ceremonial tunics are considerably rarer than Chilkat
blankets, as not as many were made, he said...(more)
(October 2005)
Bringing history
home
Historic Klukwan tunic
repatriated to clan
By ERIC MORRISON
JUNEAU EMPIRE
The spirit of Kudeinahaa has come home to Alaska. The Kaagwaantaan Clan
and Sealaska Heritage Institute celebrated the repatriation of a Chilkat
Brown Bear tunic and its return to Alaska Thursday morning at the
Sealaska Building in Juneau. In accordance with the Native American
Graves and Repatriation Act of 1990, the ceremonial property, or at.óow,
was returned by the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology in Berkeley,
Calif.
"It's a really joyous occasion for us whenever we can bring any of our
at.óow
home, and usually it is followed with great celebration," SHI President
Rosita Worl said...(more)
(10-07-05)
Brian Wallace
JUNEAU - Sealaska Heritage
Institute is hosting a live camera on its Web site showing master
carvers Ray Peck and Jim Marks carving a totem pole at Sealaska Plaza.
The Web site is
www.sealaskaheritage.org.
The Web venture marks the
first time the institute has broadcast a Native art project live on the
Internet, said Dr. Rosita Worl, president of the institute...(more)
(08-12-05)
Strength of
mind, body, spirit
Sealaska presents Latseen
Leadership Training to bring students to culture
By I-CHUN CHE
JUNEAU EMPIRE
Jamie McDonald considers herself an Alaska Native. But she didn't speak
Tlingit and knew little about the culture until she participated in the
Latseen Leadership Training at the University of Alaska Southeast.
Between Aug. 3 and Aug. 13, McDonald will learn topics from Tlingit
language to Tlingit law to Tlingit history. "For me, the most important
part of the program is to know other kids are in the same situation,
just getting started to learn the language and heritage," McDonald, 20,
said. Sealaska Heritage Institute, the cultural arm of Sealaska Corp.,
is offering the program for the first time. "Latseen" means "strength of
mind, body and spirit" in Tlingit. Sealaska Corp. is the regional
for-profit Native corporation for Southeast Alaska...(more)
(08-10-05)
Learning
Tlingit language is challenge and joy for children
Camp weaves education with
whale and animal activities
By ANDREW PETTY
JUNEAU EMPIRE
On a clear Friday afternoon, third-grader Michaela Martin told her camp
teacher "it's sunny outside" in Tlingit. Children, who are learning how
to speak the Native tongue, really shine at the Juneau School District's
summer culture camp, said parent Mariana Goodwin. "We've got books at
home," Goodwin said. "But kids seem to listen more to strangers." The
camp is funded by a federal grant to Sealaska Heritage Institute and
passed on to the school district...(more)
(07-24-05)
Sealaska
Heritage to collect migration stories, songs of Tlingits
By ERIC FRY
JUNEAU EMPIRE
When Clarence Jackson Sr. is alone at the wheel of his seiner, he
sometimes turns on a recording of his grandfather's voice and listens
once again to stories about Tlingits returning to Southeast Alaska after
an absence. Jackson's great-grandfather, who was 100 in 1948, also
talked about migrations down the Taku, Stikine and Nass rivers. One
story speaks of elders rafting on a river under a glacier to get to the
coast. "As they went, they sang a mourning song for themselves as they
disappeared under the ice," Jackson said...(more)
(07-08-05)
Shim-al-gyack
(Tsimshian) Talking Circle
(Radio story by Coast Alaska reporter Ed Schoenfeld)
Nancy Barnes stands in her living room holding a Shim-al-gyack language
book. A pot of stew bubbles in the kitchen behind her as she leads the
Tsimshian language talking circle she helped organize. The group uses a
technique called total physical reponse...(more)
(06-28-05)
Study to focus on
migration of eight Southeast clans
Songs, dances, oral
histories to be collected from elders with $40,000 from federal grant
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The migration of eight Southeast Alaska clans will be documented through
a federally funded project planned by Sealaska Heritage Institute. A
$40,000 grant from the National Park Service will pay for collecting
clan songs, dances and oral histories from elders and other clan
members...(more)
(06-28-05)
Dictionary preserves
language of the Haida
By ERIC FRY
JUNEAU EMPIRE
Scholar John Enrico has compiled the first comprehensive Haida
dictionary, the fruit of years of living among the last generation of
people who spoke the language regularly at home. About 40 people speak
Haida today, not all fluently, Enrico said. The Haida Dictionary was
recently published by Sealaska Heritage Institute in Juneau and the
Alaska Native Language Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks...(more)
(06-26-05)
Program is 'nest' for Native
languages
By ERIC FRY
JUNEAU EMPIRE
Learning Tlingit has changed the lives of the 10 or so young adults in
Juneau who have dedicated themselves to the language, one student says.
"We had fairly life-changing experiences when we took it to heart to
keep the language going, because of the Tlingit concept of respect,"
Vivian Mork said. Mork said Tlingit wasn't spoken fluently in Wrangell
when she grew up there. She began to study Tlingit after moving to
Juneau in 2002 to enroll in a summer language program, Kusteeyí,
sponsored by Sealaska Heritage Institute. She also enrolled at the
University of Alaska Southeast, which has a Tlingit program...(more)
(06-16-05)
"Meet Lydia" now
available at local bookstores
The author of new book about a native girl from Southeast Alaska and her
subject were guests on KINY's Capital Chat this morning. (Wednesday)
Miranda Belarde-Lewis wrote the book about her cousin Lydia Mills...(more)
(04-06-05)
When the U.S. Forest Service approached Southeast Alaska elders about how to revise a booklet on Tlingit food, the elders asked that "subsistence" not appear in the title. "Subsistence" connotes handouts, but putting up food isn't an easy job, elder Ray Wilson said Tuesday. The word seemed to be a regulatory term and didn't convey Native respect for nature and food, elders told the agency...(more) (03-23-05)
Juneau wins bid to
keep Celebration
City's pledge of $10,000
swayed board to choose capital city for biennial event
By I-CHUN CHE
JUNEAU EMPIRE
Celebration is coming back to Juneau in 2006. After reviewing offers
from Ketchikan and Juneau, Sealaska Heritage Institute, the event's
organizer, has decided to keep it in Juneau. This was the first time the
institute solicited bids outside of Juneau, and Ketchikan made a play
for it. The capital has hosted the biennial Native cultural event since
its inception in 1982. Rosita Worl, president of the institute, said the
board of trustees chose Juneau for the city's financial contribution...(more)
(03-11-05)
Sealaska
Heritage considers archival center
(Radio story by Coast Alaska reporter Ed Schoenfeld)
A Juneau-based cultural organization wants to create a home for historic
and traditional items belonging to tribal groups. CoastAlaska’s Ed
Schoenfeld reports on the Sealaska Heritage Institute’s plans for an
archive and cultural center...(more)
(02-07-05)
Heritage Institute
seeks to connect education to Native experience
The Associated Press
JUNEAU (AP) - When Amelia Rivera attended high school, she didn't hear
much about her Native heritage from her teachers. "It's something that I
never studied. To be honest, it was something that I was taught to be
ashamed of," she said. "It was just a little while ago that I started
learning about my culture."...(more)
(02-04-05)
Institute says book teaches language,
values
Sealaska linguist:
children's book not like 'Dick and Jane'
By ERIC FRY
JUNEAU EMPIRE
When a Tlingit boy is rude to his mother and contemptuous of a piece of
salmon, it's an opportunity to teach respect. A new illustrated book
published by Sealaska Heritage Institute tells a shortened version of an
old story as a way to teach the Tlingit language and Tlingit values to
young children...(more) (12-24-04)
Sealaska
Heritage Develops Culturally-Relevant High School Curriculum
(Radio story by CoastAlaska reporter Ed Schoenfeld)
Tlingit language expert Nora Marks Dauenhauer shares a table with about
a dozen teenagers in Juneau’s alternative high school. While discussing
the history of
Glacier Bay, the storyteller, poet and author talks about sub, migration, alienation
and respect for elders...(more)
Artists learn to engrave
Master carver teaches locals about traditional NW form line
By ERIC FRY
JUNEAU EMPIRE
In short, confident strokes of pencil on paper, master carver Steven
Brown drew a killer whale design for Steve Griffin. "Just make that kind
of a broad bevel," Brown said Saturday of one line that would become an
engraved notch on a silver bracelet. "The dorsal fin is up and bend it
back, like that. This OK?" Griffin was one of several students who took
a six-day course last week in silver engraving at the Riverbend Housing
community center. Brown also taught a three-day class in Northwest Coast
form line for Sealaska shareholders the previous week at the
Tlingit-Haida Regional Housing Authority offices. A $3,000 grant from
the Alaska Native Arts Foundation, and help with travel expenses from
Sealaska Heritage Institute, made the classes possible...(more)
(12-05-04)
Celebration up for grabs
Sealaska Heritage Institute
will consider other communities
By ELIZABETH BLUEMINK
JUNEAU EMPIRE
Celebration - one of Juneau's largest and most lucrative events - may be
leaving town. Juneau's Sealaska Heritage Institute, which sponsors
Native cultural programs throughout Southeast Alaska, has hosted the
cultural festival in Juneau since 1986. But this winter the institute
will solicit competitive bid proposals for Celebration 2006 from other
Alaska communities such as Ketchikan, Sitka and Anchorage. A decision
will be announced in February, said Rosita Worl, the institute's
president..(more)
(12-02-04)
Indian Point
may be listed on National Historic Register
Area would be first traditional
cultural site in Alaska on list
By ERIC FRY
JUNEAU EMPIRE
The state will ask the federal government to list Indian Point on the
National Register of Historic Places, officials said. The roughly
78-acre site, just north of Juneau's state ferry terminal, is considered
sacred by Tlingits, said Rosita Worl, president of Sealaska Heritage
Institute, which prepared the application for listing...(more)
(11-19-04)
Sealaska Heritage develops
Woman Who Married a Bear
(Radio story by Coast Alaska reporter Ed Schoenfeld)
David Katzeek heard about the Woman Who Married a Bear when he was a
child. The traditional Tlingit tale was familiar to families headed out
to the woods and fields looking for food...(more)
Juneau scholar, poet wins
award from First Peoples fund
Nora Marks Dauenhauer is one
of five recipients nationwide of 2005 Community Spirit Award
By ERIC FRY
JUNEAU EMPIRE
One day, subway riders in New York City, looking up from their tabloids
and reading the ads that run above the cars' windows, saw this poem:
"Granddaughters dancing,/ blossoms / swaying in the wind." The
Streetfare Journal, which places poems in streetcars and subways, wasn't
the only anthologizer of Nora Marks Dauenhauer, but it may be the
oddest. Dauenhauer, a scholar and poet in Juneau, has won a 2005
Community Spirit Award from the First Peoples Fund, a Native American
organization that supports the arts. She is one of five recipients of
the award, which includes a $5,000 stipend...(more)
(11-14-04)
Sealaska Heritage lauded for
language program
Sealaska Heritage Institute is one of two organizations to receive the
Governor’s Humanities Distinguished Cultural Service Award this year for
its Native language program. The award recognizes organizations for
making significant contributions to the cultural heritage in Alaska
through their efforts in revitalization of Alaska Native languages,
according to the Alaska Humanities Forum, which sponsors the program
with the Alaska State Council on the Arts...(more)
(10-27-04)
Sealaska Heritage Institute Holds Tlingit Immersion Retreat in Hoonah
HOONAH SCHOOLS NEWSLETTER
During the month of August, Sealaska Heritage Institute sponsored a
ten-day Tlingit Immersion Retreat in Hoonah. Out-of-town retreat
participants stayed at the Icy Strait Lodge, where daily classes in
Intermediate and Conversational Tlingit were held...(more)
(October 2004)
Alaskans stand out in
crowd for museum's opening
By SEAN COCKERHAM
Anchorage Daily News
Playwright adapts Native story for
kids
Summer Theatre Arts
Rendezvous performances conclude today, Saturday
This March, Perseverance Theatre and Sealaska Heritage Institute invited
local playwright Merry Ellefson to adapt the Native story "The Woman Who
Married The Bear" for its Summer Theatre Arts Rendezvous children's
program. Ellefson had never adapted a play before, nor was she very
familiar with the mores and history of Tlingit culture...(more)
(08-06-04)
Sealaska Heritage looks
to HS curriculum
By ERIC FRY
JUNEAU EMPIRE
Sealaska Heritage Institute has received an $850,000 federal grant to
develop a Native-oriented high school curriculum in math, science and
history. The institute is a private nonprofit founded in 1981 to
administer cultural and educational programs for Sealaska Corp., the
Southeast regional Native corporation...(more)
(08-02-04)
Sealaska Heritage gets grant to identify
Native clan hats
A Juneau-based cultural group wants to identify Southeast Native
clan hats in museums across the country. The goal is to repatriate the
hats to the descendents of the people who created them. CoastAlaska's Ed
Schoenfeld reports...(Radio Story)
S
$71,000
will go to document, establish ownership of cultural treasures
By TARA SIDOR
JUNEAU EMPIRE
Immersion retreat
helps students learn Tlingit language
By Vanessa Orr
CAPITAL CITY WEEKLY
A century ago, it would not have seemed strange to hear Native Alaskans
speaking in Tlingit as they went about their daily chores. Now an
endangered language, it is rarely spoken by anyone other than elders, or
those who have chosen to study and learn this unique mode of
communication...(more)
(06-22-04)
Group wants plan for
Native students
By ERIC FRY
JUNEAU EMPIRE
Local educators and Native organizations are working on a plan to
improve Native achievement in the Juneau schools. The group met for the
first time Tuesday at ANB Hall. The effort is sponsored by the Sealaska
Heritage Institute, the Alaska Native Sisterhood Camp 70 and the
Tlingit-Haida Central Council...(more)
(06-07-04)
Director of Native museum
visits Southeast
By KORRY
KEEKER
JUNEAU EMPIRE
Rick West had been
invited to Celebration before. But his day job, as director of the
National Museum of the American Indian, had always kept him preoccupied.
This year, he made Celebration a priority. West participated in
Thursday's opening ceremonies, offering remarks and a brief speech about
the museum's upcoming grand opening...(more)
(06-06-04)
Documentary film to preserve oral
traditions
Former Juneau residents produce Dance Regalia Documentary Project
By KORRY KEEKER
JUNEAU EMPIRE
Under a white tent Saturday afternoon in front of Centennial Hall, Ken
Hoff, a raven of the Tongass Tribe, shared the story of his Uncle
Sonny...(more) (06-06-04)
It's time to
celebrate tradition
Event expected to draw more than 5,000 people across the country
THE JUNEAU EMPIRE
Forty-seven dance groups, five more than in 2002, will star in
Celebration 2004, Thursday-Sunday at Centennial Hall, the Alaska Native
Brotherhood Hall, Sealaska Plaza, the Mount Roberts Tramway and Marine
Park.
The Sealaska Heritage Institute expects the biennial Native dance-and-culture festival, conceived in 1980, to draw more than 5,000 people from Alaska, the Lower 48 and Canada...(more)
Canoe races could be
competitive
By KORRY
KEEKER
JUNEAU EMPIRE
Respect will be the name of the game when five canoe teams compete at
Sunday's 2 p.m. Gathering of the Canoes at Sandy Beach. The traditional
races, with canoes of 10 paddlers and a rudderman, are held in
conjunction with the biennial Celebration...(more)
(06-04-04)
Rangimarie brings 'peace and
harmony'
By KORRY KEEKER
JUNEAU EMPIRE
The 14 members of Maori singing and dancing group Rangimarie walked
about 100 feet from their arrival gate Wednesday at Juneau Airport,
before they had their first experience with Alaska Natives...(more)
(06-04-04)
Contest celebrates
food from the sea
By CATHY BROWN, Associated Press Writer
JUNEAU
(June 4, 5:24 pm ADT) - Rose Gerber tastes black seaweed the way some
people taste wine. "Relaxing," she says after savoring an entry in
Sealaska Heritage Institute's black seaweed contest. "That one's good
for boiled fish," she declares of entry No. 2. And No. 4 is "like eating
chips."...(more)
(06-05-04)
Sitka Kaagwaantaan to
lead this morning's grand parade
By KORRY
KEEKER
JUNEAU EMPIRE
Ed Mercer and the Sitka Kaagwaantaan are honored to be the lead dance
group for today's 8 a.m. Grand Entrance and Saturday's 8 a.m. parade in
Celebration 2004. The group, formed by Mercer and Naomi Kanosh 10 years
ago, is expecting 90 to 95 members to show up this year. The
Kaagwaantaan is one of a record 47 dance groups performing at
Celebration...(more)
Seaweed contest to
feature new rules
Elders will be able to vote for their favorite varieties; results to be
tallied Friday
By KORRY
KEEKER
JUNEAU EMPIRE
On the rocks of Cone Island and Hole-in-Wall, due west of Craig,
Klawock's Henrietta Kato finds what she's looking for. Those are good
spots for black seaweed - often called laak'ask, wild celery or yanaide.
It's a shimmery green in the water, a rich black when dry. It grows in
clumpy blades, two inches wide and sometimes 20 inches long. During
minus tides, often in early May, it's time to pick...(more)
(06-02-04)
Preserving the Tlingit
'fringe about the body'
Jennie Thlunaut was
entrusted with Chilkat weaving technology, and she was prolific
By ANN CHANDONNET
FOR THE
JUNEAU EMPIRE
Jennie Thlunaut may be not a household name, but if she had lived in
Japan she would probably have been declared a national treasure...(more)
04-21-04 (This
article was derived from materials produced by
Sealaska Heritage Institute,
including the video “Jennie Thlunaut, Chilkat weaver” and "Haa Tuwunaagu
Yis, for Healing Our Spirit," Vol. 2.)
"SHI Prepares for
Celebration 2004"
(Radio story by Coast Alaska reporter Ed Schoenfeld)
SHI Posts Job Announcement in Tlingit
by Dixie Hutchinson, KNBA-FM
The Sealaska Heritage Institute would like to see the Tlingit language
used every day. The regional non-profit is backing that initiative by
posting a job announcement for a language specialist in Tlingit.
Sociolinguist for the Institute Roy Mitchell says there are a number of
Tlingit speakers but finding people who are literate in both Tlingit and
English is challenging. Mitchell says part of the message is that there
are employment opportunities for people who have those abilities...(more)
(Audio)
(KRBD-FM story on SHI's new office)
(KTUU-TV story about SHI's new Native art web,
www.alaskanativeartists.com)
l
Windows
Media or RealOne
Meet the Tlingit
By Pat Chargot
YAK'S CORNER
(SHI President Rosita Worl helped a reporter write about the Tlingit
for Yak's Corner,
a newsmagazine for kids)...(more)
11-09-03
Web site works to
promote Native artists
By TARA SIDOR
JUNEAU EMPIRE ©
2003
Tommy Jimmie Sr. put
away his wood-carving tools more than 15 years ago, but he is coming out
of retirement thanks to a new Web site that markets Native art. "I just
want to get back to carving," said Jimmie, 75. "I figure I'm just as good
an artist as those other guys out there." Sealaska Heritage Institute
recently launched the Web site, www.alaskanativeartists.com, to help
Natives such as Jimmie, who is Tlingit, capitalize on the tourism
market...(more)
10-21-03
Kanen
accepts job in Washington, D.C.
Dale Kanen,
U.S. Forest Service district ranger for Craig, has been selected to
oversee the agency’s national Office of Tribal Relations in Washington,
D.C...(more)
10-01-03
Corporations: Alaska
Natives exert control
Part one
(Indian Country Today)
A camel is a horse designed
by committee. That’s how a modern-day proverb puts it. To listen to Rosita
Worl, the Alaska Native corporation is a similar animal, drafted by
Congressional committees to reinvent Native life in our largest state...(more)
10-01-03
$14.5 million in federal funds
to boost Native school programs across the state
By ERIC FRY
JUNEAU EMPIRE ©
2003
The office of Sen. Ted Stevens announced this week that $14.5 million in
federal funds will go to Native education programs in Alaska. In Juneau,
the money will help expand a Tlingit-oriented elementary school program,
continue a popular science summer camp that has a Native focus and provide
home educational and social services to preschoolers...(more)
10-01-03
Grant helps Sealaska
Heritage go digital with photo archive
By TIMOTHY INKLEBARGER
JUNEAU EMPIRE ©
2003
Sealaska Heritage Institute, a nonprofit organization that promotes
Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian culture, is set to digitize and post
thousands of historical photos on the Internet. The Institute of Museum
and Library Services, a federal agency that invests in libraries and
museums, awarded Sealaska Heritage a $147,639 grant to post photos owned
by Sealaska Heritage and the regional Native organization Sealaska
Corp...(more) 09-29-03
Hear our
words
Language retreat at Glacier Bay Lodge affords an opportunity to speak
Tlingit 24 hours a day
By SCOTT FOSTER
For the
Juneau Empire © 2003
Study German or French in school and you can look forward to a European
trip as a reward and an opportunity to further develop language skills in
the real world. "Unfortunately, there's not a Tlingit-speaking world for
us to go to," said Roy Mitchell, a sociolinguist at the Sealaska Heritage
Institute. "We're trying to do the next best thing, which is make one
ourselves." That next best thing was a 10-day Tlingit language immersion
retreat...(more)
09-28-03)
Tlingit culture camp prepares kids for school
By ERIC FRY
JUNEAU EMPIRE ©
2003
The young children, led by teacher Kitty Eddy's voice and her fingers,
chanted in unison as they counted in English from one to 100, pausing to
stretch out the nines - "thirty-niiiiine" - before gathering speed on
the next set of numbers. Then they counted, with the same vigor, the
numbers in Tlingit...(more)
08-17-03
Learning by doing
Native language institute
works to stave off decline of traditional tongues
By ERIC FRY
JUNEAU EMPIRE ©
2003
Students in Donna May Roberts' class in Shim-al-gyack, the language of
the Tsimshian Indians, point to the ground in unison, walk in place, rub
their stomachs, make kissy sounds and generally do whatever she says. It
looks like an aerobics class, but that's the way Roberts teaches
language, and it's becoming an important element in the Native language
courses at Sealaska Heritage Institute's Kusteeyi program...(more)
08-14-03
(KTOO-FM story about P.I.T.A.S.)
Reporter intro: "Thirty-five Alaska Native students – fourteen of them
freshmen - will be at the University of Alaska this fall working towards
education degrees under full federal scholarships. It’s the fourth
year of a program that aims to get more native teachers into rural
schools. As Anne Sutton reports, incoming students gathered on
campus last week for prep classes and orientation." (Click
here to listen to a story about P.I.T.A.S. by KTOO-FM reporter Anne
Sutton) 08-12-03
Tlingit classrooms - a
good report card
Emphasis is on English,
Tlingit language instruction, Native culture
JUNEAU EMPIRE ©
2003
Students in Tlingit-oriented
classrooms at Harborview Elementary generally perform as well as
other students in the school district, and do better than Native
students on average, a recent study shows...(more)
08-11-03
Native leader wins Women of Courage Award
JUNEAU EMPIRE
Rosita Worl of Juneau, comedian Rosie O'Donnell and former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno were among nine women awarded the 2003 Women of Courage Award on June 14 in Washington, D.C. ...(more) 06-20-03
Heritage
Institute awards more than $1 million in scholarships
JUNEAU EMPIRE
Sealaska Heritage Institute will award $1.013 million in scholarships
to 678 Sealaska shareholders and descendants. The awards, funded by Sealaska
Corp. and by grants, will go to Southeast Alaska Natives pursuing educational
opportunities during the 2003-04 school year...(more)
05-02-03
A
forum for Native voices
Oratory society presents a new generation of speakers
By ERIC FRY
JUNEAU EMPIRE
Ernestine Hayes, who was raised by her grandmother in Juneau while her
mother was hospitalized, said she never doubted her mother missed her.
When she gave an oration recently, she linked her story with that of people
who have been separated from the land, "and the land still misses
them." An Alaska Native oratory society founded last year is providing
an audience for a new generation of speakers, say local educators and
students...(more) 04-28-03
User-friendly
Tsimshian-language curriculum is basis for courses
Perhaps only a few dozen in Alaska can speak fluent Shim-al-gyack
By ERIC FRY
JUNEAU EMPIRE
Debi White, a Tsimshian Indian in Ketchikan, said her mother remembered
elders speaking their Native language when they didn't want the children
to understand what they were saying. "So when I was growing up, a
few words were spoken but not the language," said White, who runs
a cultural program in the schools for the Ketchikan Indian Community...(more)
04-21-03
Queen
honors Sealaska employee
By CHRISTINE SCHMID
JUNEAU EMPIRE
Bessie Cooley used to get punished for speaking Tlingit. Now, she's
receiving an award from the queen of England for using her Native language...(more)
01-24-03
Cave
reveals 10,500 year old remains
By KRISTIN PRICE
CAPITAL CITY WEEKLY
Anthropologist Jim Dixon believes that the first humans in North America
populated the continent via the Northwest Coast. Dixon, author of Bones,
Boats and Bison, and the principle investigator on an excavation project
on Prince of Wales Island, spoke December 18 at the Sealaska Building
in Juneau...(more)
12-25-02
Repatriation
conference helps clans learn about bringing their past home
By RILEY WOODFORD
JUNEAU EMPIRE
Thousands of objects made by Tlingit and Haida people - artwork, tools
and sacred religious items - were taken from Southeast Alaska during the
past 200 years. Some of these artifacts will remain in private collections
and public museums. Others may be returning to Alaska, thanks to a federal
law that allows Native Americans to reclaim cultural objects and even
human remains... (more)
12-09-02
Sealaska
to kick off new lecture series in Juneau
FOR THE JUNEAU EMPIRE
Distinguished Tlingit linguist Jeff Leer will be the inaugural speaker
featured at the new Sealaska Heritage Lecture Series, scheduled Tuesday,
Nov. 12. The lecture series is a new project by Sealaska Heritage Institute
meant to tap expertise of Alaska Native language and culture scholars
for the benefit of the public, said SHI President Rosita Worl...(more)
11-08-02
More
funds for Tlingit language immersion
THE JUNEAU EMPIRE
An ongoing Tlingit language immersion effort run by a Juneau-based nonprofit
group has won another large federal grant. The Sealaska Heritage Institute
program is receiving $864,000 from the U.S. Department of Education's
Alaska Native Education Program. The institute was awarded a $446,000
grant from the federal Administration for Native Americans in September...(more)
10-10-02
Sealaska
Heritage Institute wins $600,000 for language programs
FOR THE JUNEAU EMPIRE
The Administration for Native Americans has awarded a grant to Sealaska
Heritage Institute for Native language immersion programs in Southeast
Alaska. The funding bodes a major step forward for SHI's Tlingit language
program, said SHI President Rosita Worl...(more)
9-18-02
Empire
editorial: Remembering Stella Martin
The measure of a community is more its people than scenery or commerce.
For all its beauty, a forested mountain does not bestow dignity on the
residents below; trade may create jobs and generate wealth, but it does
not of itself address the problems of human relationships. People extend
dignity and respect to one another. People resolve conflicts among those
with differing interests, values and cultures. Or they don't. Because
we all depend on good people to help make us better people, Stella Martin
will be missed...(more)
9-1-02
SE
loses Native leader
Stella Martin remembered for community activism
By KRISTAN HUTCHISON
THE JUNEAU EMPIRE
Stella Martin is being remembered today by the community she dedicated
her life to helping. Martin, who died Monday at age 79, had been active
in Native and civic organizations for most of her life, including the
Alaska Native Sisterhood and Alaska Native Brotherhood, Tlingit and Haida
Community Council, and the Salvation Army...(more)
(See also Obituary)
8-30-02
Creating
a habitat for Tlingit
Total immersion language camp puts students in touch with another time
By KRISTAN HUTCHISON
THE JUNEAU EMPIRE
Last week Tlingit language students made the equivalent of a trip abroad,
or back in time, to a place where only Tlingit was spoken. While students
of French would fly to Paris, the seven Tlingit-language students and
five fluent speakers spent a week at a camp near Berners Bay. There they
created what they couldn't find elsewhere, a community where they would
hear and speak only Tlingit...(more)
8-25-02
Juneau
Tlingit institute expands to Ketchikan, Sitka
By KRISTAN HUTCHISON
THE JUNEAU EMPIRE © 2002
It's the first year for Sealaska's Tlingit immersion retreat, but the
fourth for the annual summer Tlingit institute. The Sealaska Kusteeyi
Institute teaches Tlingit-language students and their teachers. Shirley
Kendall came down from Anchorage for the two-week program in Juneau. As
a Tlingit-language teacher, she found the teaching-methods class useful...(more)
8-25-02
Sealaska
receives artifact gift
Donation is largest from private collector
By GENEVIEVE GAGNE-HAWES
THE JUNEAU EMPIRE
Sealaska Heritage Institute has received a gift of more than 50 Native
artifacts from an Oregon businessman, its largest donation by a private
collector to date. Bob Bowlsby, chief executive officer for Oregon's Spacesaver
Specialists, said he received the objects 35 years ago from an 80-year-old
woman who traveled throughout Alaska as a teacher in the early 1900s...(more)
(Click here for photos!)
7-28-02
Institute
works to preserve Native languages
By LEILA KHEIRY
Daily News Staff Writer
Ketchikan recently was host to an annual program that aims to preserve
Native Alaska languages by increasing the number of fluent speakers. On
Friday, the Sealaska Heritage Institute’s annual Native Language Institute
wrapped up two weeks of intensive classes during which students learned
the basics of Haida, Tlingit and Shim-al-gyack — the Tsimshian language...
(more) 7-22-02
Free
Tlingit language class offered every week
THE JUNEAU EMPIRE
Hans Chester, a language student and assistant instructor of Tlingit at
the University of Alaska Southeast, is offering a Tlingit language class
from 2:30 to 4 p.m. every Saturday in the Naa Kaani Room at the Goldbelt
Hotel... (more)
7-5-02
Inspired
by tradition
The state museum's juried art show includes traditional Native art
and new interpretations of ancient forms
By RILEY WOODFORD
THE JUNEAU EMPIRE
Native artist Clarissa Hudson took influences from Hawaii and Jamaica,
the Seminole and her own Tlingit heritage to create "Copper Woman,"
a regalia dance outfit that won Best of Show at the Sealaska Juried Art
Show...(more)
5-30-02
Traditional
rattle seized, returned to Southeast
Raven rattle was confiscated in undercover operation by the National
Park Service
By BEN MURRAY
SITKA SENTINEL
SITKA - After 200 years and an extraordinary journey, a piece of Alaska
Native heritage came home last weekend. A traditional Raven rattle, or
Yeil Sheishoox, dating back to the early 1800s, returned to Southeast
several years after being seized in an undercover operation by the National
Park Service. The ceremonial rattle was repatriated under the Native American
Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990 and was unveiled Saturday
in Juneau as part of Celebration 2002, a biennial gathering of Tlingit,
Haida and Tsimshian tribes...(more)
6-11-02
Celebration:
Making the connections
Event's cultural resources, performances revive individual ties to
tribal communities
By RILEY WOODFORD
THE JUNEAU EMPIRE
Toni Welch experienced an epiphany at her first Celebration in 1998. "Coming
and seeing the dancers, the pride and traditions and togetherness, I was
just overwhelmed," she said. "You can be brought up totally
aside from the tradition and you come to this and it reaches down so deep
inside you - and it's there." Welch is a Tlingit from Whitehorse,
Yukon Territory. She returned to Celebration this year with her parents.
She said she grew up with some elements of her Tlingit traditions, but
not a lot. Her mother and grandmother had been distanced from their heritage.
Celebration is part of a process in recent years that has reconnected
them...(more) 6-9-02
Celebration
seaweed contest highlights traditional food
By RILEY WOODFORD
THE JUNEAU EMPIRE
Black seaweed - laak'ask - has been a valuable resource for the Native
people of Southeast Alaska for thousands of years. Alaska families have
developed their own methods for drying and flavoring the nutritious wild
food. Friday afternoon, it will prove to be a particularly valuable resource
for three people who provide three judges with the tastiest sample of
laak'ask...(more)
6-6-02
New
book documents Celebration
Juneau-raised photographer captures Celebration moments since 1982
By RILEY WOODFORD
THE JUNEAU EMPIRE
As a child in Juneau in the 1960s, Samuella Samaniego pored over art
books in the Juneau Public Library. Now a fine-art and commercial photographer,
she's about to see a book of her own work on the shelves of Alaska's libraries.
"Celebration," a 50-page volume of black and white photographs,
documents the dancing and ceremony of Sealaska Heritage Institute's biennial
culture gathering...(more)
5-30-02
Tlingit
classroom increases enthusiasm
Harborview students perform 'The Great Táay'
By GENEVIEVE GAGNE-HAWES
THE JUNEAU EMPIRE
Students dressed as flowers, birds and berries filled Harborview Elementary
School's Tlingit Language and Culture Classroom on Tuesday night. The
classroom's year-end play, "The Great Táay (Garden) Party,"
told the story of a girl named Amy who journeyed through the forest and
across the beach searching for food. The children mixed Tlingit and English
easily, counting, singing and dancing with enthusiasm...(more)
5-29-02
Haines:
Chilkoot association hosts Harvard visitors
CHILKAT VALLEY NEWS
The Chilkoot Indian Association showed off its assets last week to a group
from Harvard University School of Government. The tribe was recently nominated
for one of Harvard's 16 tribal nation-building awards for community development...(more)
5-26-02
Tlingit
immersion students making the grade at Harborview
By MARY LOU BERRY
CAPITAL CITY WEEKLY
When Harborview Elementary first grader Bradley Wright started kindergarten
in 2000, he was virtually unaware of his heritage. “My boy didn’t know
he was an Indian!” says his father, Richard Wright, of Juneau. "Well,
he knew, but he wasn’t knowledgeable." Bradley’s perception was soon
to change, however, because the class Richard had enrolled him in was
Kitty Eddy’s Tlingit immersion class, in which students learn both academics,
and the culture and language of the Tlingit people...(more)
4-17-02
Cards
encourage Gold Medal fans to cheer in Tlingit style
By ANDREW KRUEGER
THE JUNEAU EMPIRE
Basketball fans attending Gold Medal Tournament games this week can urge
their favorite teams to Gashàat wé kooch'éit'aa - get the rebound
- and play tough Yan yeené - defense - with the help of a pocket-sized
listing of Tlingit yells. Sealaska Heritage Institute has printed 2,000
copies of the list, which includes 17 basketball-related Tlingit cheers
and their English translations, to distribute to spectators...(more)
3-28-02
Native
spoons draw anthropologist to Southeast
Harvard scientist seeks out elders to learn history, rituals linked
to elaborately carved utensils
By RILEY WOODFORD
THE JUNEAU EMPIRE
A bear cradles an otter in one carving. In another, a mysterious beast
rests head-to-head with a human, their tongues connected. The elaborate
Tlingit, Tsimshian and Haida carvings decorate the handles of 40 antique
ceremonial spoons. The spoons were carved from goat and sheep horn, probably
between 100 and 200 years ago. They have been in the collection of Harvard
University's Peabody Museum for decades, but virtually nothing was known
about them...(more)
(Photos)
3-22-02
Class
to provide Native language overview
By ANDREW KRUEGER
THE JUNEAU EMPIRE
A new summer course at the University of Alaska Southeast will offer a
wide-ranging overview of Alaska's indigenous languages. The three-credit
class, Anthropology 393: Alaska Native Languages, is being offered as
a cooperative effort between the university and the Sealaska Heritage
Institute...(more) 3-21-02
Native
place Names
Offering clues to Juneau's past
By ANN CHANDONNET
THE JUNEAU EMPIRE
The city of Juneau is fortunate to have retained some of its Tlingit place
names, and, in certain cases, to have revived others. Newcomers soon master
the pronunciation of "Dzantik'i Heeni" or "Kowee"
and come to relish each syllable as proof they're not just passing through,
but settling in... (more)
3-3-02
Click here to see news articles prior to 2002