Tlingit*

=**The Tlingit: A Perspective on American History** = = =  by Toni Sharclane and Elijah Marks





The Tlingit are a Native American group. Pre-1492, they lived in the region now called Alaska state in the U.S. Geographical features that would have limited this group’s ability to move include: the Pacific Ocean and the Juneau Icefield. Pre-1492, this group probably interacted with its neighbors, especially the Haida, the Athabaskans, the Tsimshian. Eventually, the Tlingit would shape American history in the following ways: by fighting the Russians and contributing their Native art – including totem poles and regalia.
 * Introduction:**

The Tlingit believed in a creator, Kah-Shu-Goon-Yah .This Supreme being controlled the sun, moon, stars , daylight. He created all living things on Earth. Raven is the hero who organized the world into its present form.
 * Religion (Worldview):**

By 1880, there were 33,000 Native People in Alaska. In 1990 there were about 14,400 Tlingit in the United States, mostly in Native villages in Alaska. Around 1,200 live on reserves in British Columbia and the Yukon Territory.
 * Population in the United States:**


 * HISTORY:**

For the Tlingit people, Columbus' arrival in America may now seem like the beginning of terrorism in America for all Native American people, though Tlingits did not encounter Europeans until the 1700s.
 * 1492:** **Columbus' arrival in America**


 * 1521: Cortes encounters the Aztec**


 * 1607:** **English colonists arrive at Jamestown, Virginia**

In 1741, the Russian explorer Vitus Bering first landed on Alaskan soil in the Aleutian islands. They traded with Aleuts. Later in the fur trade they had them stack the pelts up until they were the same height as the rifles.
 * 1687:** **The English colonies continue to expand**


 * 1776-1787:** **The American Revolution; the writing of the U.S. Constitution**

The battle happened for at least two years. The Russians had gunmen from up north. The Tlingits were vary smart. They would go to the leaders and ask them what to do. One of them said, " Don't say nothing and act like you're not here. They will believe that we retreated and left so they will leave our land." So they did what the leader told them what to do and it worked. Then the Russians used cannons and so the Tlingit were prepared -- they made a fort to make the booms go into the water and not hit the houses.
 * 1802: Tlingit Battle the Russians at Sitka**

Between 1836-1840, it is estimated that one-half of the Tlingit people at or near Sitka were wiped out by smallpox, influenza, and tuberculosis. At about this time, Americans came into Tlingit country for gold, and in the process sought to occupy and control the land and its people.
 * 1839: The Amistad; the Trail of Tears**


 * 1850: Fugitive Slave Law Made**

In 1860, the Tlingit village of Angoon was destroyed by the American military. In 1867, the Treaty of Cession referred to indigenous people of Alaska as "uncivilized tribes." In 1874, the Mining Act allowed only U.S. citizens or "immigrants of good standing" (which usually meant "white") to stake mining claims -- Alaska Natives were excluded.
 * 1863: U.S. Civil War**

By the turn of the century, the Tlingit people were threatened politically, territorially, culturally, and socially. In response, the Tlingit people organized the Alaska Native Brotherhood (ANB). The ANB was founded in Sitka in 1912. In 1924, William Paul, a Tlingit man, won election to the Alaska Territorial House of Representatives, marking the beginning of a trend toward Native political power. Congress passed a law in 1935 allowing Tlingits and Haidas to sue the United States for the loss of their lands. The Alaska Spruce Log Program was established in 1942. In 1968 The U.S Court of Claims Awarded the Tlingit & Haida people 7.5 Million dollar's to Create the Tongass National Forest & the Glacier Bay National Monument. In 1970, they finally passed the public law -- A.N.C.S.A (the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act) became a law in 1971.
 * 1890: Westward movement; reform movements**

Although the Tlingit people do not seem very important to most people, they helped shaped the world. They keep to ther traditions -- they sing and dance like their ancestors once did on our land we're standing on today.
 * 2009:** **Today**

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlingit http://www.ccthita.org/1965-1978.html http://www.akhistorycourse.org/articles/article.php?artID=472
 * Websites Cited**: