Book Recalls Alaska’s Civil Rights Battle: “A Dangerous Idea”

“I grew up in the Juneau school system and I just don’t remember being taught anything at all other than the comic book version of Alaska history, which is the Gold Rush, Wickersham – white history,” Peter Metcalf said.

The situation has since improved, he said, but many stories remain untold. As a writer, he has worked to bring attention to important aspects of Alaskan history that have been overlooked, most recently through his new book, “A Dangerous Idea: The Alaska Native Brotherhood and the Struggle for Indigenous Rights.”

Written with the assistance of Kathy Ruddy, who acted as researcher and legal assistant, the book was undertaken with Andy Hope III in 2008 through a grant provided by the Alaska Humanities Forum and funded by the Rasmuson Foundation as part of the Alaska Statehood Experience program. Twenty-eight projects were funded through the $1 million grant, Metcalfe and Hope’s among them. Hope’s grandfather, Andrew Percy Hope, was an early organizer of the ANB, founded in 1912.

“A Dangerous Idea” tells a complex story about early civil rights efforts in Alaska, focusing on the years leading up to statehood (1945-1958). It traces, through documentary evidence, the Southeast-based Alaska Native Brotherhood’s early work in establishing a basis for Native land claims, eventually settled in 1971 with the passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.

“It’s so complex, that’s one of the reasons it’s been such a joy to work with Peter, it takes time to unfold these stories,” she said. “It’s been so satisfying to be able to work through these things I’ve always wanted to know — what really happened with aboriginal rights? I came here as a young attorney and never had the time to figure it out.”

The unresolved land claims situation in Alaska was unusual compared to what had happened in other parts of the country, where Native claims had been often been settled through treaties and the establishment of reservations. In Alaska, no treaties had been signed with Alaska Natives. The 1867 Treaty of Cessation, an agreement between Russia and the U.S., left the issue of aboriginal title unresolved, and so it remained.

“Any treaty you look at in the Lower 48 that resulted in a reservation or whatever, was generated by conflict. Generally it was when white people were moving into an area and taking property rights. In the case of Southeast Alaska the ‘aha’ moment for me was, there’s 40 years from 1867 to 1907 when fisheries started changing, 40 years in which Native people were able to adapt and there wasn’t a lot of pressure on occupancy, Juneau being a case in point. … it was only later, especially after there were laws against subsistence fishing in streams that started to be enforced, that things became oppressive for Native people and that was 40-50 years after the Americans showed up. It wasn’t like it was overnight.”

“Twenty percent to a quarter of our population is Alaska Native in Juneau and statewide for that matter, they preceded us here,” he said. “I’ve always been kind of bowled over by the fact that it’s been kind of an open field for me as a writer with these topics. There hasn’t been that much written about it, very few people understand it locally, let alone statewide.”

Metcale’s book has already been hailed as an important contribution to Alaska history by AFN president Julie Kitka and ANB grand president William Martin. Metcalfe speculates that his original partner in the undertaking, Andy Hope, would be happy with the end result as well.

Via newsminer.com

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