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The Corporate Whale: ANCSA, The First 10 Years Program 1 of 10

:
Publisher: Educational Media Services
SR Box 20155
Fairbanks, AK 99701

McPherson, Karen Michel


1982

Very Useful
Audio Material
All
Referenced by: ANKN Clearinghouse

Grade Level(s): 9, 10, 11, 12, 7, 8

Theme(s): ANCSA

Category: General ANCSA
The title and content of the series provide an analogy between the role of the whale in certain Alaska Native subsistence lifestyles, and the roles and responsibilities of the corporations created under ANCSA. Each tape in the ten part series begins with the following prayer by the Reverend Merculieff from St. George Island: "This land of Alaska, which thou gave to our ancestors who had come and gone before us, is now being handed to us a second time by the act of the United States Congress and our untiring efforts. A second chance is given to us by thee to be the new custodians and caretakers."
"On December 16, 1971 several hundred Indian, Eskimo, and Aleut leaders gathered in a university cafeteria in Anchorage, Alaska to consider the Alaska Native Land Claims Settlement Act, ANCSA..Now ten years after convention delegates agreed to the bill...Alaska's Natives have received the money, but are custodians and caretakers of less than half of the expected lands. This ten part series, The Corporate Whale, will listen to some of the events leading to the land claims settlement, the mechanisms that were employed to manage the act, government agencies and Native corporations. Hear how leaders assess the first ten years, and predictions for 1991."1 Program 1 features summaries of pre-ANCSA land issues with interview segments from Senator Ted Stevens, and Native leaders Willie Hensley (President, NANA Development Corporation; Chairman, United Bank Alaska; former State legislator; President, Alaska Federation of Natives; lobbyist); Joe Upicksoun (President, Arctic Slope Native Association); Don Wright (President, Alaska Federation of Natives; lobbyist for the settlement); and William Paul, Sr. (Tlingit attorney; first Native member of the Territorial House of Representatives). Topics include how discovery of North Slope oil affected passage of the act, and Congress' recognition of Alaska Natives' legal right to aboriginal lands. A recording of the historic 1971 Alaska Federation of Natives Convention delegation vote is also featured.
1 McPherson, Karen Michel, The Corporate Whale, Program 1 of 10, (Fairbanks, AK: Educational Media Services, 1982).



Information or copies about the resource can be found at:
ANKN Clearinghouse
P.O.Box 756730
Fairbanks, Alaska 99775-6730

Tel: (907) 474-5897
or email: ANKN Clearinghouse

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