Native Land Claims

I. The Rush to Exploit Alaska’s Natural Resources

1.     Intense and often wasteful exploitation of the sea mammal, fish, and fur sources of Alaska soon resulted in severe damage to the economic base of the North’s varied Native Cultures

2.     In 1906, the passage of the Native Allotment Act enabled Alaska Natives to obtain legal title to 160-acre homesteads to be selected from the unappropriated and unreserved public domain.

3.     This legislature endeavored to turn hunters and food-gatherers into homesteaders

4.     Only eighty allotments were issued under the act

5.     Alaska Native Brotherhood (ANB) was formed in 1912

6.     Alaska Native Sisterhood (ANS) was formed in 1915

II. Natives and Territorial Politics

1.     ANB concerned itself with Indian education and the abandonment of aboriginal customs considered “uncivilized” by white people

2.     Concerns were prompted by the General Allotment Act of 1887 which allowed Natives to become citizens if they “severed tribal relationships and adopted the habits of civilization”

3.     In 1924 congress made all Indians citizens

4.     Indians argued that homesteads were incompatible with their seminomadic lifestyle

5.     In 1926 congress amended the Townsite Act, enabling Alaska Natives to receive restricted deeds to surveyed town lots

6.     Om 1934 the Indian Reorganization Act was passed, intending to improve the lot of Native Americans in keeping with the spirit of the New Deal

7.     In 1936 it was extended to include Alaska, which had the authority to create reservations if approved by a majority vote of not less that 30% of the Natives involved

8.     The act was controversial because of its reservation provisions

9.     The statehood act of 1958 specifically stated that the new state and its people disclaimed all rights or title to lands “the right or title to which may be held by Eskimos, Indians, or Aleuts” or held in trust for them

10. An identity revolution occurred in villages across Alaska during the 1960s

III. New Threats to Native Lands

1.     The first government threat to native lands occurred as early as 1957

2.     The Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) established the Plowshare Program for utilizing the peaceful uses of atomic energy

3.     Scientists decided to blast at Cape Thompson

4.     Alaskans demanded it would harm neither human life nor livelihood

5.     AEC stopped due to lack of support

IV. Alternatives for Settling Native Claims

1.     Around 2900 native families lived on native reserves, while 15,600 of their kin lived in urban areas

2.     A lot of governmental stuff happened

V. Alaska Natives Finally Compensated

1.     Senator Jackson gave natives $1 billion but authorized revenue-sharing for only a limited number of years

2.     Natives would receive a little more than 40 million acres of land

3.     Instead of 12 regional corporations, it authorized one for the Arctic Slope and two statewide corporations

4.     AFN received a $100,000 loan from Tyonek

5.     Washington state gave it another $250,000 loan

VI. The Reasons for Claims Settlement

1.     The land claims settlement has ended Native subsistence culture

2.     The claims settlement will make Native transition into the white world a bit easier

3.     A quick settlement of Native claims was essential because they stood in the way of oil extraction