Distracted + Alaska History Timeline

Hello!

Lately, I have been too distracted with writing: Duchess of the Seas and Space Dragon (new project,  reveal coming soon!), editing/revising: Speak and Pitch Wars (picks are revealed August 25!) to focus on some important things:
-like dishes
-vacuuming
-eating healthy
-dishes, again
-SCHOOL!!

I have to finish two Alaska history classes to gain my Alaska Teaching Credential. Why is this important if I'm just a stay-at-home mom (oh no you didn't! :P) or I want to be an author? Well, because being a teacher has always been one of my dreams. Teaching 3rd grade in Colorado was SO rewarding and a wonderful year of my life. Sometimes I really miss it (mainly in August when everyone is getting ready to go Back to School). This year I went a little crazy and now I have a mini preschool classroom set up in my house for Ben to home school! :) Also, I want to keep my credential updated. I'm losing my CA credential next year because I haven't taught 2 years and completed BTSA in the state. And I DO NOT want to go through the credentialing program again. Last, I want to work as a sub with the school district (and having my credential pays better, lol). But, really, I LOVE working in schools. I already feel fulfilled with the life I have chosen - being a mom is one of the greatest careers! - but giving to the community and supporting schools and students is great too! I wasn't made to do just one thing; I want to use the gifts and talents God has given me in many ways! So, I am never just a teacher, a mom, a wife, a writer, a student, a daughter, a sister, a hair-brained wild dreamer; I am ALL of those things.

Bleh, I didn't mean to go on a mini-happy rant. :P I was supposed to introduce one of the interesting projects I completed for my class (and maybe will help others who stumble on this blog, but please don't plagiarize-use it as a resource).

Over the past couple months, when I actually did schoolwork, I organized a timeline on the history of Alaska. And, boy! this state is INTERESTING! This only holds a smidgen of the happenings in this great state but I hope it gives you an appreciation on how we got where we are. (Or convince my family and friends to move up here too!) (P.S. I was a grade school teacher, I LOVE color-coding ;)

AA: Alaska Timeline (1741-2016)

A timeline on the land, people and education of Alaska

?-1740: Aleut, Inupiat, Yup'ik, Athabascan and Tlingit Haida native groups live a hunting and gathering lifestyle.

1741: Bering & Chirikov Voyage (Russian)

1774-1791: Spanish Expeditions; trace names as Malaspina Glacier and Valdez (Spanish)

1778: Cpt. Cook Explores Coastal AK & creates maps of northern North America (English)

1784: First Permanent Russian Settlement on Kodiak, Shelikov, fur trader, forces Natives on Kodiak into submission (Russian) Fur trade hits big!

1789: American expeditions set out to compete in fur trade (US)

1794: Baranov builds first ocean-going vessel in northwestern America on Kenai Peninsula at Voskressenski (Russian)

1799: Baranov named First Russian Governor; builds ship with Shields, an Englishman, and calls it the Phoenix. Used in American waters and made two voyages to Siberia. Russian post Old Sitka established.

1802: Battle of Sitka

1804: Russian warship Neva under Baranov, destroyed the Native village & people. Rebuilt settlement of New Archangel, now known as Sitka.

1805: 1^st cargo of Russian furs from Russian America delivered to China

(1812: Napoleon invades Russia, isolating colonies.)

1821: Russian Trading Charter (Russian) & Hudson’s Bay Company (British). British continue presence for the next 30 years.

1823: Monroe Doctrine

1824: Russia & US sign treaty -> Anglo-Russian Treaty Establishing AK’s borders; Veniaminov begins deciphering, writing and translating the Aleut & Tlingit & Yakut languages, Bible first & other books, plus personal compositions

1835: First Mission School for Eskimos at Nushagak

1842: Aleut born Netsvetov developed & translated Yupik

1853: Oil in Cook Inlet discovered by Russian-America Company

1857: Coal mining begins at Coal Harbor on Kenai Pen; Russian-American company looses out on fur trade, coal mining and whaling; ice trade not enough; ends. (Russian)

1861: Gold discovered at Telegraph Creek at Stikine River

1865: Survey for Telegraph line Begun, Last Shot of Civil War Fired in AK waters

1867: Seward negotiates purchase of Russian America -> 375 million acres for $7.2 million [-2c per acre]. General Davis assumes command of the Department of Alaska, beginning a decade of military rule.

1868: First Alaskan Newspaper, “The Sitka Times”

1870: Schools built on St Paul & St George as provisions for 20 year seal hunting rights on Pribilof Island led to 48-pg primer of American Values in the English language

1877: US troops withdraw from AK. School opens in Wrangell, mainly for Tlingit near Sitka, becomes a girl’s school

1878: First AK fish cannery opens in Klawock. First Sitka Industrial Training School opens.

1880: Gold on Gastineau Channel. Juneau founded (first Harrisburg, then Rockwell, and finally Juneau) after Joe Juneau and Richard Harris.

1881: Commander Henry Glass, the Senior Navy Officer required the native children to attend school.

1882: 1^st salmon AK canneries built in Central AK. 1^st commercial herring fishing begins in Killisnoo.

1884: Steamers begin bringing 1^st tourists to AK. Congress passes First Organic Act; $15,000 appropriated to educate AK Native children. (Sheldon Jackson prodding)

1885: Sheldon Jackson federal education agent for AK, bringing schools to region – boarding schools/mission schools

1887: Indian Reservation of Metlakatla on Annette Island & taught trades.

1890: 1^st oil claims in Cook Inlet. Reindeer introduced into AK. Large corporate salmon canneries begin to appear.

1893: Gold is discovered on Birch Creek

1896: Klondike Gold Rush begins.

1898: Nome Gold Rush begins.

1900: Capital moves from Sitka to Juneau. White Pass & Yukon Railroad is completed. Congress provided for the establishment and local control of independent schools for whites within incorporated towns. (Segregated school system)

1900: Unalaska tri-lingual newspaper printed in Aleut, Russian & English

1902: Oil production in AK. Fairbanks town named after US president. Roosevelt est Tongass National Forest.

1903: AK-Canada border settled.

1904: Washington AK Military Cable & Telegraph System (WAMCATS) begins to lay submarine cable between Seattle, Sitka, & Valdez, linking AK to “Outside”.

1905: 1^st message is telegraphed from Fairbanks to Valdez. Nelson Act the federal government assumed responsibility for the education of Alaska Native: “of white children and of children with ‘mixed blood’ who led a civilized life”.

1906: Native Allotment Act, allowing Natives to obtain land under restricted title.

1911: Morgan-Guggenheim Corp builds railroad. US, Canada, Russia, GB, & Japan sign to preserve fur seal in North Pacific.

1912: Mt. Katmai explodes massively, forming Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes.

1913: 1^st AK Territorial Legislature Convenes with 1^st law passed granting women voting rights.

1914: Surveying begins for AK Railroad. Anchorage starts as construction camp on Ship Creek.

1917: Amendment to the Alaska Organic Act, the Territorial Legislature was empowered "to establish and maintain schools for white and colored children and children of mixed blood who lead a civilized life in said territory . . ."

1920: Anchorage city gov’t is organized. Alaska Air Expedition from New York to Nome is successful.

1922: AK Ag College & School of Mines, later University of AK, opens with 6 students.

1923: Alaska Railroad complete. Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 4 is created.

1924: Congress extends citizenship to all American Indians. William L. Paul, a Tlingit, is first Alaska Native elected to Territorial Legislature.

1925: The federal government initiated a program of establishing vocational boarding schools within Alaska. Mt. Edgecumbe - main

1926: AK Native Townsite Act allows Natives to obtain restricted deeds to village lots. Design for the AK flag was won by 13-yr old Benny Benson, through a school contest. (AK students grades 7-12)

1927: New flag for the Territory of AK.

1928: Court case resolves the right of Native children to attend public school.

1935: 202 farmers colonize Matanuska Valley. Salmon pack peaks at 8.4 million cases.

1936: Congress extends the Indian Reorganization Act to AK. Nell Scott of Seldovia becomes 1^st woman elected to the Territorial Legislature.

1938: Kennicott Mine closes at McCarthy.

1939: Home study (homeschool) an option for Alaskan students.

1940: Military sets up in AK with Elmendorf Air Force Base.

1942: Japan bombs Dutch Harbor, invades Aleutians, takes Attu & Kiska; relocated all islanders (extended-temporary time). Pioneer Service Road (AK-Canada military Highway) is built from Dawson Creek, BC to Delta Junction, AK.

1943: Upgrading and bridge building on AK Highway. US Forces retake Aleutian Islands, Attu & Kiska from the Japanese. Venetie Reservation.

1944: AK-Juneau Gold Mine shuts down.

1945: Territorial legislature passed an antidiscrimination act

1946: Boarding school for Native high school students opens at Mt. Edgecumbe.

1947: AK Command establish; 1^st unified command of the US Army, Air Force & Navy. 1^st AK Native land claims suit, by Tlingit & Haida people.

1948: AK Highway opens to civilian traffic. Vote to abolish fish traps.

1951: 34 public secondary schools; only 5 enrolled over 100, 24 under 50, 12 had 10 or fewer; only 6 were in communities at least 50% native.

1952: Johnson-O’Malley Act: “The states' responsibility lay in their obligation to educate all residents"

1953: Plywood op begins at Juneau & pulp mill at Ketchikan. AK TV broadcast

1955-1956: Constitutional convention held at Univ of AK.

1957: Oil discovered at Swanson River on Kenai Pen, beginning AK modern oil era.

1959: AK becomes US state #49. British Petroleum begins to explore for oil on AK North Slope.

1960: Amoco finds offshore oil in Cook Inlet.

1964: Good Friday earthquake of 8.6: property damage = $500 million. Valdez destroyed.

1965: State revenues total $82.9 million; Elementary and Secondary Education Act for low-income & Native students

1966: The state adopted a policy of constructing regional secondary schools and dormitories and developing boarding home programs.

1967: Chena River floods Fairbanks. 1^st bill intro to settle AK Native land claims.

1968: Prudhoe Bay exploratory well oil reserves est at 9.6 billion barrels. Civil Rights Act for Title VII Bilingual Education legislation.

1969: AK pop totals 295,000. $900 million in lease bonuses to state treasury through Prudhoe Bay.

1970: State revenues hit $1 billion; bill intro for PFD. Environmental studies of pipeline effect on wildlife begin. State began a program of providing local secondary schools.

1971: Congress passes AK Native Claims Settlement Act; transfers ownership of 44 million acres of land to newly est Native corps.

1972: Molly Hootch, et al., Plaintiffs, vs. Alaska State Operated School System, et al., Defendants, the lawsuit challenging the separate and unequal system of education in Alaska (Edu). Indian Education Act.

1973: Trans –AK pipeline begins. Oil prices skyrocket from Middle East war. National Study of American Indian Education & John Collier, Jr.'s book Alaska Eskimo Education (1973)

1974: Construction on pipeline brings thousands of workers.

1975: The Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act became law with the outward intent of providing increased opportunities for local control

1976: PFD constitutional amendment established. Population passes 400,000. The Governor of Alaska signed a consent decree as an out-of-court settlement of what had become the Tobeluk v. Lind case because Molly Hootch was no longer in school. In the settlement, the state of Alaska agreed that it would establish a high school program in every community in Alaska where there was an elementary school (which required a minimum enrollment of eight students) and one or more secondary students, unless the community specifically declined such a program

1977: Pipeline construction completed and oil arrives. 30 new high schools est, +90 more in the next 7 years. Currently over 120 small high schools in AK villages. (Regional Educational Attendance Areas; REAA – operated locally)

1978: More options for local control were then reinforced by the federal Education Amendments Act

1980: AK legislature approves PFD program & repeals AK income tax. Carter signs AK National Interest Lands Conservation Act. State of AK agrees to provide high schools in all Native villages of student pop of +15

1982: Oil Boom! State revenues peak at $4 billion after OPEC fixes oil at $34/barrel. AK Legis enacts inflation-proofing to PFD. 1^st PFD check is distributed: $1,000.

1985: Bureau of Indian Affairs passes operation of rural schools to State Board of Edu & Early Dev

1985-87: Recession, nearly 1 in 10 jobs disappear from AK economy, oil prices drop. AK Railroad transfers from Federal to State.

1988: International efforts to rescue 3 whales caught by ice off Barrow gain attention. Soviets allow a 1-day visit of a group of AK to Siberian port city of Providenya. Oil peaks at 744 million barrels.

1989: Exxon Valdez spills 11 million gallons of oil into Prince William Sound.

1990: AK pop reaches 550,000. Over 800,000 visitors come to AK. Mining ranks as fastest growing industry. PFD invests in stocks & bonds outside US.

1991: 8 billionth barrel of oil arrives in Valdez. PFDs paid for 10^th consecutive year.

1992: AK Highway & Denali National Park = 50 years old.

1996: PFD 20^th anniversary.

1997: AK High School Graduation Qualifying Exam implemented

1998: Quality Schools Initiative

2000: Alaska signed an administrative order directing state agencies and officials to "recognize and respect" the 227 federally recognized tribal governments in Alaska.

2013: Lowest recorded King Salmon run

2015: 1.7 million salmon run up Kenai River, stable population

2016: Change of policies in regards to Transgender students in some Alaskan schools

Extra Resources:

http://kodiakisland.net/timeline.html

http://www.akhistorycourse.org/timelines/1741-1866

http://www.alaskool.org/native_ed/MollyHootch/Introduction.htm

Alaska's History--(pp. 54-55): Sheldon Jackson: Christian Soldier to the Great Land.

http://www.ankn.uaf.edu/curriculum/Articles/CarolBarnhardt/HistoryofSchooling.html

https://www.preceden.com/timelines/186032-the-history-of-education-in-alaska

Including class materials and provided books.