The history of contact with Europeans for Native Americans and the Tlingit
people in particular has been well documented as one of extreme pain, suffering, and
injustice. It was "survival time" for the Tlingit and very difficult choices had to be made.
The life of one Tlingit man, Rudolph Walton, born in Sitka, Alaska in 1867, illuminates
this critical time in the history of the Tlingit people.
This dissertation is ah exploration of the interplay between competing cultures
and interests and it is a quest to understand who Rudolph Walton was and how his life
and the choices he made are connected to the larger historic themes and cross-cultural
issues in Alaska Native education and religious life. In addition to providing a look at
history and at cultural change through an individual's life, choices and experiences, this
dissertation is also about the connection between my ancestors' choices and the impact
those choices had on the survival of a people. It is at once a macro view and a micro
view of the impact of history on Indian people.
After the purchase of Alaska by the United States traditional Tlingit life changed
forever. The Tlingit were forced on a daily basis to balance demands and pressures
made by various Christian religious groups and the U. S. government. They also had to
contend with the prejudice of the average American citizen.
Most Native American history has been limited to the use of records written by
Europeans and Americans. Our understanding of that history is limited because the
voice of the Native American is rarely heard. This dissertation fills a gap in the history of
Southeast Alaska through an examination of the life of Rudolph Walton. The life of Mr.
Walton is important because he left us with a unique set of documents which help us to
understand the difficulties he had to face as a Tlingit man during a critical time in the
history of Southeast Alaska.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/8592 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Shales, Joyce Walton |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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