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: 1st 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: 1st salmon AK canneries built in Central AK. 1st commercial
herring fishing begins in Killisnoo.
1884: Steamers begin bringing 1st
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: 1st 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: 1st 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: 1st AK Territorial
Legislature Convenes with 1st 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 1st 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; 1st
unified command of the US Army, Air Force & Navy. 1st 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.
1st 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. 1st
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 10th consecutive year.
1992: AK Highway & Denali National
Park = 50 years old.
1996: PFD 20th
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:
Alaska's History--(pp. 54-55): Sheldon
Jackson: Christian Soldier to the Great Land.
Including class materials and provided books.
