Alaska Natives

Dorothy Thomson stands while giving a thumbs down as Gov. Mike Dunleavy gives his State of Alaska Address during the 2019 Alaska Federation of Natives Convention Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019. The 2019 convention was the last in-person convention as the COVID-19 pandemic has caused the meeting to go digital for the second year in a row. (Eric Engman/Fairbanks Daily News-Miner via AP)

‘Relationships are key’: AFN Convention brings leaders to the table

All levels of leadership.

Dorothy Thomson stands while giving a thumbs down as Gov. Mike Dunleavy gives his State of Alaska Address during the 2019 Alaska Federation of Natives Convention Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019. The 2019 convention was the last in-person convention as the COVID-19 pandemic has caused the meeting to go digital for the second year in a row. (Eric Engman/Fairbanks Daily News-Miner via AP)
Angela Ketah holds a bright bouquet of fresh flowers for her business, Sitka Flower & the Chocolate Moose. Angela’s dedication to her team’s wellbeing and growth has helped her lead the way through the difficulties of the pandemic, setting an example for entrepreneurs around the region. (Courtesy Photo / Lione Clare)

Resilient Peoples & Place: Sitka Flowers The Chocolate Moose is a small business growing with its team

Small businesses like Sitka Flowers The Chocolate Moose bring character to our downtown streets.

Angela Ketah holds a bright bouquet of fresh flowers for her business, Sitka Flower & the Chocolate Moose. Angela’s dedication to her team’s wellbeing and growth has helped her lead the way through the difficulties of the pandemic, setting an example for entrepreneurs around the region. (Courtesy Photo / Lione Clare)
This undated photos shows National Day of Mourning plaque on Cole's Hill in Plymouth, Mass, where since 1970 Indigenous groups have gathered to mourn the history of colonization in North America. This year marks the 400th anniversary of the traditional "First Thanksgiving " in 1621, but for many Indigenous people, including Alaska Natives, the holiday is a somber one. (Courtesy photo / Creative commons)

Thanksgiving has somber context for Indigenous Americans

New narratives.

This undated photos shows National Day of Mourning plaque on Cole's Hill in Plymouth, Mass, where since 1970 Indigenous groups have gathered to mourn the history of colonization in North America. This year marks the 400th anniversary of the traditional "First Thanksgiving " in 1621, but for many Indigenous people, including Alaska Natives, the holiday is a somber one. (Courtesy photo / Creative commons)
The Wrangell Institute was one of many residential schools in Alaska dedicated to involuntarily teaching the Indigenous people of the state European ways of living, forcibly breaking them from their own Alaska Native cultures. (Courtesy photo / National Park Service)

Churches respond to revelations about residential schools

That acknowledgement is taking a number of forms, varying by institution.

The Wrangell Institute was one of many residential schools in Alaska dedicated to involuntarily teaching the Indigenous people of the state European ways of living, forcibly breaking them from their own Alaska Native cultures. (Courtesy photo / National Park Service)
Artists of the inaugural Rock Aak’w Indigenous Music Festival gather beneath the mural of Elizabeth Peratrovich on the Juneau waterfront on Friday, Nov. 5, 2021. This year the ceremony was all virtual, but organizers wanted to open the festival in person. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)

Rock Aak’w festival opens with songs, dancing and drumming

Rock Aak’w by seawalk.

Artists of the inaugural Rock Aak’w Indigenous Music Festival gather beneath the mural of Elizabeth Peratrovich on the Juneau waterfront on Friday, Nov. 5, 2021. This year the ceremony was all virtual, but organizers wanted to open the festival in person. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)
The Healing Hand Foundation is holding a black tie dinner honoring Ethel Lund, a pioneer in tribal healthcare, on her 90th birthday as it fundraises for a new scholarship. (Courtesy photo / HHF)

Nonprofit holding 90th birthday gala for tribal health care trailblazer

The gala is funraising for a scholarship for other prospective Alaska Native healthcare workers.

The Healing Hand Foundation is holding a black tie dinner honoring Ethel Lund, a pioneer in tribal healthcare, on her 90th birthday as it fundraises for a new scholarship. (Courtesy photo / HHF)
Tlingit master carver Wayne Price, left, and students from Angoon High School wheel a dugout canoe down to the Angoon waterfront on Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2021, for a ceremony commemorating the bombardment of the village by the U.S. Navy in 1882. Dugout canoes were specifically targeted by the navy for destruction, and Price said crafting a new one was a way of healing from the past. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)

Remembering and rebuilding: Angoon residents commemorate 139 years since bombardment

‘We’re still here.”

Tlingit master carver Wayne Price, left, and students from Angoon High School wheel a dugout canoe down to the Angoon waterfront on Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2021, for a ceremony commemorating the bombardment of the village by the U.S. Navy in 1882. Dugout canoes were specifically targeted by the navy for destruction, and Price said crafting a new one was a way of healing from the past. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)
Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire Stephen Qucang Blanchett, creative director of Rock Aak’w Indigenous Music Festival, shoots an ad for the festival, which will begin on Nov. 5, at Mayor Bill Overstreet Park on Oct. 19, 2021.

‘The sky’s the limit’: Hopes are high for upcoming Indigenous music festival

Are you ready to r-Aak’w?

Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire Stephen Qucang Blanchett, creative director of Rock Aak’w Indigenous Music Festival, shoots an ad for the festival, which will begin on Nov. 5, at Mayor Bill Overstreet Park on Oct. 19, 2021.
This map from the U.S. Cencsus Bureau highlighting Alaska's indigenous populations. A ballot initiative to have the State of Alaska formally recognize the state's already federally recognized tribes took a step forward Monday, when it was certified by the Division of Elections. (Courtesy image/ Wikicommons)

Tribal recognition initiative moves ahead

Mending divisions.

This map from the U.S. Cencsus Bureau highlighting Alaska's indigenous populations. A ballot initiative to have the State of Alaska formally recognize the state's already federally recognized tribes took a step forward Monday, when it was certified by the Division of Elections. (Courtesy image/ Wikicommons)
Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire Speakers address participants in the Alaska Native Brotherhood/Alaska Native Sisterhood’s 109th Grand Camp Convention at Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall on Oct. 8, 2021.

Alaska Native Brotherhood/Sisterhood Grand Camp Convention underway

The Grand Camp Convention returns (mostly) in-person after a year’s absence due to pandemic.

Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire Speakers address participants in the Alaska Native Brotherhood/Alaska Native Sisterhood’s 109th Grand Camp Convention at Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall on Oct. 8, 2021.
Alaska Native artists Lily Hope, left, and Stephen Qacung Blanchett, right, were selected as two of the fifteen Indigenous artists to receive $100,000 grants for upcoming projects by the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation. (Photo credit: @SydneyAkagiPhoto for Hope and Joy Denmert for Blanchett)

Foundation awards $100k to Indigenous artists and partnering organizations

Two artists living in Juneau were named as awardees.

Alaska Native artists Lily Hope, left, and Stephen Qacung Blanchett, right, were selected as two of the fifteen Indigenous artists to receive $100,000 grants for upcoming projects by the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation. (Photo credit: @SydneyAkagiPhoto for Hope and Joy Denmert for Blanchett)
Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire More than a hundred gathered at an Orange Shirt Day event near Sandy Beach on Sept. 30, 2021, a remembrance of the Indigenous children killed in North America in the residential school system.

Passionate crowd turns out for Orange Shirt Day event

More than a hundred braved driving rain for remembrance of missing children.

Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire More than a hundred gathered at an Orange Shirt Day event near Sandy Beach on Sept. 30, 2021, a remembrance of the Indigenous children killed in North America in the residential school system.
Jamiann Hasselquist, vice president of Alaska Native Sisterhood Camp 2, speaks to an invited crowd at the Juneau Montessori School about Orange Shirt Day, a day of remembrance for the victims of residential school systems for Indigenous people in Canada and the United States on Sept. 28, 2021. (Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire)

Local groups recognize and remember victims of residential schools

Sept. 30 is an annual day of remembrance for the victims of that system.

Jamiann Hasselquist, vice president of Alaska Native Sisterhood Camp 2, speaks to an invited crowd at the Juneau Montessori School about Orange Shirt Day, a day of remembrance for the victims of residential school systems for Indigenous people in Canada and the United States on Sept. 28, 2021. (Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire)
From left to right: Miakah Nix, Daniel Ashenfelter, Shawn Merry and Conrad Revey, members of the Keex’ Kwaan Community Forest Partnership, one of the many existing programs set to benefit from the trust. The Keex’Kwaan Community Forest Partnership is a one of Sustainable Southeast Partnership’s collaborative land management programs. Programs work with private, state, and federal land managers. (Courtesy Photo / Bethany Sonsini Goodrich)

New fund established for Indigenous-led development

Funding into the future.

From left to right: Miakah Nix, Daniel Ashenfelter, Shawn Merry and Conrad Revey, members of the Keex’ Kwaan Community Forest Partnership, one of the many existing programs set to benefit from the trust. The Keex’Kwaan Community Forest Partnership is a one of Sustainable Southeast Partnership’s collaborative land management programs. Programs work with private, state, and federal land managers. (Courtesy Photo / Bethany Sonsini Goodrich)
Tlingit and Athabascan artist, designer, and activist Crystal Kaakeeyaa Worl places a portion of what will become the 60-by 20-foot public mural depicting Elizabeth Kaaxgal.aat Peratrovich, a Tlingit civil rights icon, into place at Centennial Hall on Aug. 13. Once complete, the mural will appear on the currently blank south wall of the Marine Parking garage, the structure on which the downtown branch of Juneau’s public library sits. (Dana Zigmund/Juneau Empire)

A mural comes to life

Team of artists assemble pieces

Tlingit and Athabascan artist, designer, and activist Crystal Kaakeeyaa Worl places a portion of what will become the 60-by 20-foot public mural depicting Elizabeth Kaaxgal.aat Peratrovich, a Tlingit civil rights icon, into place at Centennial Hall on Aug. 13. Once complete, the mural will appear on the currently blank south wall of the Marine Parking garage, the structure on which the downtown branch of Juneau’s public library sits. (Dana Zigmund/Juneau Empire)
Sketches for a new 60 -by- 25-foot mural depicting Elizabeth Kaax̱gal.aat Peratrovich, a Tlingit civil rights activist who worked for equality for Alaska Natives in the 1940s, are laid out for sorting in the studio of Tlingit and Athabascan artist, designer, and activist Crystal Kaakeeyaa Worl. (Courtesy photo / Crystal Kaakeeyaa Worl)

New mural to honor Alaskan civil rights leader

The 60-by-25-foot mural will greet visitors.

Sketches for a new 60 -by- 25-foot mural depicting Elizabeth Kaax̱gal.aat Peratrovich, a Tlingit civil rights activist who worked for equality for Alaska Natives in the 1940s, are laid out for sorting in the studio of Tlingit and Athabascan artist, designer, and activist Crystal Kaakeeyaa Worl. (Courtesy photo / Crystal Kaakeeyaa Worl)
This April 2017 photo shows a view of the Fort Lewis College campus backdropped by the La Plata Mountains. The college originated more than a century ago as one of the country's Native American boarding schools(. Courtesy Photo / Fort Lewis College, Wikimedia)

New calls to search for remains at Native boarding schools

“We just want to make sure families today get the information they’ve been wanting for decades”

This April 2017 photo shows a view of the Fort Lewis College campus backdropped by the La Plata Mountains. The college originated more than a century ago as one of the country's Native American boarding schools(. Courtesy Photo / Fort Lewis College, Wikimedia)
Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire Officials, artists and key Southeast Alaska figures alongside U.S. Postal Service leadership unveil the Raven Story stamp as part of the official release ceremony in front of the Sealaska Heritage Institute’s Walter Soboleff Building on Friday, July 30, 2021.

Northwest Coast to post: Stamp featuring Raven, designed by Tlingit artist gets release

It marks the first time a Tlingit design has been featured on a stamp, according to SHI.

Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire Officials, artists and key Southeast Alaska figures alongside U.S. Postal Service leadership unveil the Raven Story stamp as part of the official release ceremony in front of the Sealaska Heritage Institute’s Walter Soboleff Building on Friday, July 30, 2021.
Veterans and active duty servicemembers carry the totem pole on July 24, 2021 as hundreds gathered in Hoonah for its raising. (Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire)

Hoonah honors veterans with totem pole, future memorial park

From the Alaska Territorial Guard to today’s servicemembers, the Southeast has a legacy of service.

Veterans and active duty servicemembers carry the totem pole on July 24, 2021 as hundreds gathered in Hoonah for its raising. (Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire)
William Tamaree of the Kayáashkéedítaan clan stands next to the Kéet Koowaal in this undated photo. The Kéet Koowaal is being returned to the clan from a museum in Alabama. (Courtesy photo / CCTHITA)

Alaska Native works coming home after decades down South

The objects will be returned to home, to be displayed in a future cultural ceremony.

William Tamaree of the Kayáashkéedítaan clan stands next to the Kéet Koowaal in this undated photo. The Kéet Koowaal is being returned to the clan from a museum in Alabama. (Courtesy photo / CCTHITA)