Most of the older leaders of Native Alaska today were, like 247
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my husband, educated at boarding schools. Th
e “family” net-
work that boarding-school students created among themselves still survives today and has been instrumental in aff ecting the many political changes that marked twentieth-century history in Native Alaska. Students similar to the students of Sacred Heart became leaders in their home communities—state legis-lators, city mayors, and tribal presidents. Th
ese people lobbied
for change in Washington, D.C., and united their tribes to speak forcefully with one voice through the Alaska Federation of Natives, the organization that was instrumental in securing passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA).
ANCSA returned 40 million acres of Alaskan land to Native ownership, paying a cash settlement of $900 billion to compen-sate for lands lost. Th
e land and money was distributed through
a network of regional and village corporations. Most of those who organized and ran ANCSA corporations were once boarding-school students.
I wrote My Name Is Not Easy for the children and grand-children of these people—my own included—to let them know what their relatives endured, so they can look not only at what they lost but, of equal importance, at what they learned and how they used it.
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Acknowledgments
As always, I am eternally grateful to my mentors at Ver-mont College of the Fine Arts: the brilliant Louise Hawes; the inimitable and endlessly intuitive Tim Wynne-Jones; Ellen Levine, an indefatigable supporter who never, for one moment, doubted me (and who said once that hefting around the massive initial manuscript was increasing her upper body strength); and Marion Dane Bauer, whose wisdom and pas-sionate belief in this story have meant everything to me. Th ank
you, too, to my daughter Rachel Edwardson, whose research on the Duck-In and Project Chariot fed this story; and to the staff of Tuzzy Library in Barrow, Alaska: David Ongley, Sara Saxton, and Gabe Tegoseak, who researched the obscure, for-gave overdue notices, fi xed obsolete microfi che readers, and generally indulged me.
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Document Outline
Title Page
Copyright
Contents
PART I: THE DAY THE EARTH TURNED OVER (1960–1961)
My Name Is Not Easy / Luke
Looking for a Tree / Chickie
Never Cry / Luke
Indian Country / Sonny and Chickie
How Hunters Survive / Luke
Snowbird / Chickie
Kickball / Sonny
Th e Size of Th ings Back Home / Luke, Sonny & Chickie
PART II: THE DAY THE SOLDIERS CAME (1961–1962)
Rose Hips and Chamomile / Donna
Burnt Off erings / Luke
Military Trash / Chickie
Th e Day the Soldiers Came / Luke
Th e Meanest Heathens / Sonny and Amiq
PART III: WHEN THE TIME COMES (1962–1963)
Coupons and Bomb Shelters / Chickie
Our Uncle’s Gun / Luke
Eskimo Kiss / Chickie
Forever / Luke
PART IV: THE EARTH CAN’T SHAKE US (1963–1964)
He’s My Brother / Chickie
Eskimo Rodeo / Luke
Unchained Melody / Donna
A Weak Spot or a Secret Strength / Luke
Our Story
Civil Disobedience
Good Friday
EPILOGUE: A NEW GUN / Luke
AUTHOR’S NOTE
