Thehistory of slavery in Alaska differs from that of the other states that comprise theUnited States since Alaska became part of the United States after slavery was abolished in 1865. Nonetheless, slavery was practiced in Alaska by some groups ofAlaska Natives, by the Russian colonists and fur traders. After Alaska became part of the United States, there are accounts of the de facto enslavement of Alaska Natives by european colonists and the United States Government.
TheHaida,Tlingit, andTsimshian tribes practiced chattel slavery. This lasted until at least 1886 when an enslaved man, Sah Quah, appeared in a court inSitka requesting papers for his freedom from his enslaver, Nah-Ki-Klan, a Tlingit man in Sitka.[1][2][3]
"The life of the slave is entirely at the disposal of his master or his mistress, and it has been customary among them to kill one or more slaves on the death of a master, or on the happening of some other event, such as the completion of new house. Boring the ears, or putting out an eye, of a slave, or some other mode of marking the flesh, has been and is now a custom with some of the families of these people. The evidence shows that the object of such mutilation is to impress upon the slaves their inferiority, and render their humiliation complete; that they are believers in witchcraft, and that, when a spirit of insubordination becomes manifest on the part of the slaves, the juggler is called upon, and that he, by exorcisms and magical incantations, pretends to drive out the rebellious spirits, and the slaves are compelled to submit."[4]
Russian colonists in Alaska came from a society with traditions ofslavery (as in Siberia) as well as ofserfdom. TheRussian-American Company, which effectively controlled Russian interests in the northern Pacific coasts of North America, had the right to employ serfs.[5]InRussian Alaska, thepromyshlenniki forcedAleut andAlutiiq men to huntsea otters as part of themaritime fur trade, taking their women and children hostage.[6] Formally, theRussian Empire abolished serfdom with theEmancipation reform of 1861.
TheThirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution which took effect on December 18, 1865, abolished slavery within the United States of America. When the United Statespurchased Alaska in 1867, slavery also became illegal in Alaska.
In 1903 there were still documented cases of slavery in theDistrict of Alaska. Wealthy families could purchase Aleutian girls to do housework, and often[quantify] prohibited them from participating in child play or from becoming educated. These girls tended to come from theAtta Islands.[7]
From 1911 until the passage of the Fur Seal Act in 1966, the inhabitants of thePribilof Islands were governed directly by employees of the United States federal government, under conditions which theTundra Times described in 1964 as slavery "in milder form perhaps than existed in the Deep South, but slavery nonetheless"; these conditions included being paid for their labor in food rather than in money (until 1950), being forcibly resettled, being deniedsuffrage, being deniedfreedom of assembly, and being deniedfreedom of movement.[8]
In 1924 the passage of theIndian Citizenship Act granted Native Americans full rights of citizenship.
The [Russian-American Company] was allowed to engage all classes of free labor, and to employ serfs with the consent of their masters [...].