Alaska Civic Responsibilities & ANCSA (SE.AK 5.10)

Introduction: The Alaska Land Question
When Alaska became part of the United States in 1867, there was no provision in the law for private ownership in the new territory, except for the private individual property holders who had obtained written title to the land under the Russians. "Uncivilized" tribes (which included all but the acculturated Natives who had accepted the Russian Orthodox religion) were to be treated like Indians in the lower United States, which meant they had claim to their ancestral lands but no citizenship rights. "Civilized" tribes were to be given the rights and citizenship of other Americans. In practice, however, the United States government and new residents to the territory treated all Alaska Natives as "uncivilized" tribes.


The Organic Act of 1884 allowed non-Natives to own mining sites, as long as they were not in areas of use or occupation by Natives. Subsequent laws (after the turn of the century) allowed for Alaska Natives to obtain restricted title to some ancestral lands. (One example of the restrictions placed on the title was that the Native owners did not have the right to sell the land without permission of the federal government.) Various other laws allowed non-Natives to homestead large areas of land, provided they surveyed and worked it.

SE.AK 5.10 = Identifies and explores the relationships among Alaska's diverse populations.
PROFICIENT = • Explores the benefits and costs of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA).
• Describes how people of Alaska support and defend their beliefs and interests (include federal, tribal, local, and state governments, legislation, special interest groups, etc.).

Be sure and cite your sources on your project.
All work should be submitted digitally (by e-mail from gaggle.net account) with:
-    Your name
-    Standard#
-    Grade you expect & why (refer to the rubric)
-    What you did well / what you would change next time
-    Your work

Due:  Wednesday, November 25, 2009 to: menadelook_roxy@asdk12.org


By the time of statehood (1959) most of the land in Alaska was claimed by the federal government, with a small amount centered around the cities being owned by individuals, almost all of whom were non-Natives. Yet, the rights of Alaska Natives to their ancestral lands had been acknowledged in a number of legal documents from the time of the purchase. The message in all the documents was that Alaska Natives own their own land, but that it is up to future generations to decide how they would get title to it. Exactly which lands were the ancestral lands had not been addressed until the 1900’s when, bit by bit, Natives began to lay claim to portions of the land in the state.

Then, because of a growing non-Native population in Alaska, the discovery of a vast oil field on the North Slope, and increasing demands for that oil in the lower 48, the question of "who owns Alaska" became a national issue in 1971.  In 1972, Alaska passed legislation for the “Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.”  This first attempt addressed part of the issues, but basically allowed oil exploration while the real issues continued to be discussed.  By 1991, the people of Alaska were able to pass amendments to the original ANCSA legislation to answer some of the questions about subsistence rights.

Do Alaskans now have fair and equal rights to the resources?  How have these actions changed the way of life?
l5_seak_510_civic_project
exploration-of-oil-debate
history_statehood_compact
the-native-land-claims



Resources:
Alaska Constitution
http://www.alaska.edu/creatingalaska/constitution/

ANCSA Background
** Between Worlds by the Juneau Empire ** very comprehensive!
http://www.juneaualaska.com/between/
http://arcticcircle.uconn.edu/SEEJ/Landclaims/
http://litsite.alaska.edu/aktraditions/ancsa.html

ANCSA Table of Contents
http://www.lbblawyers.com/ancsatoc.htm

ANCSA Student web site (Thanks, Jeff Levin!)
http://freezerburned.org/ancsa/

ANCSA Interviews with the people who created the legislation
http://litsite.alaska.edu/aktraditions/ancsa/

ANCSA According the Federal Wildlife
http://ipl.unm.edu/cwl/fedbook/akclaims.html
http://www.fws.gov/laws/laws_digest/ALASNAT.HTML

ANILCA Resources
http://dnr.alaska.gov/commis/opmp/anilca/anilca.htm

State of Alaska
http://www.state.ak.us/

Alaska Governor’s Web Site
http://gov.state.ak.us/

Alaska Dept. of Law (Judicial)
http://www.law.state.ak.us/department/criminal/crim_justice.html

Legislature in Alaska
http://w3.legis.state.ak.us/home.htm

First Legislature in Alaska
http://www.akhistorycourse.org/articles/article.php?artID=135

Alaska First Constitution (taped by KTOO Television)
http://www.ktoo.org/videos/constitution/

Racism in Alaska – Jim Crow Laws
http://www.alaskool.org/projects/JimCrow/Jimcrow.htm

Ak Native Knowledge Network video series on ANCSA
http://www.ankn.uaf.edu/media/