for white supremacy. they are very clear about it. they thought they were doing the constitutional thing, which is why, in a way, the radicals and up rewriting the constitution, at least amending it to a substantial degree to make it quite clear that african-americans are included within the protections of u.s. constitution and u.s. government. that is a story for next class. i will give you back your papers. i know you have been very patient. hopefully will be able to do that. i will see you next class. goodbye. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2017] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] announcer: numeral watching american history tv, only on c-span3. the mount roberts tramway is the

only aerial tram in southeastern alaska. it rises 1800 feet from the dock in downtown juneau. to the top of mount roberts, with views of the city. up next, we learn about the colonization of alaska from the alaska state museum. steven: they didn't recognize that alaskan natives, people who had lived here for thousands of years, had any title whatsoever to those lands. over the next two centuries, both the russians and the americans that follow them did everything they could to negate native ownership of the land, native culture, native place names, and anything having to do with native people. their approach eventually was to make those people disappear entirely. welcome to the alaska state museum here in juneau, alaska. our museum was created in the year 1900 when alaska was not even a territory at. it was a district.

on becomingll focus of europeans and americans into alaska, starting in about the 1770's. and talk about their efforts to colonize alaska, and the response of alaska's native people to that -- to those efforts. what we're looking at is the top figure of a kalinga to poll from the southern part of southeast alaska. the alaska natives who created this were commemorating a very historical event, and that is the sighting of the first non-native explorer to enter into alaska. their way of recording history is not in writing, it is an carving and artwork and oral traditions. that particular plan saw the first spanish for traders and explorers here. and explorers here. they carved a total poll. they feet is an artifact of

first russian people that came to alaska. a legale following doctrine called the doctrine of discovery that gave europeans and any christian nation a primacy in claiming title to land and resources. they did not recognize any native claim to alaska. instead, this doctor and require them to put proof, physical proof, of their presence on the land in the form of metal tablets or other artifacts like this one which was buried underground in secret locations. another country challenged the russians claim to alaska, they could say, there is a place here that we place there in 1841 that is inhe country is an -- our possession and that would be legal proof of their ownership in what drove a lot of the europeans and americans to furka was the riches in

that could be found, the sea otter furs. 1770's, five different countries were active in alaska, all going after sea otters. in the russians first came into alaska, in the 1700s, they enlisted to help them hunt sea otters, many of the allete, now called something else, and kodiak island people. the reason behind that is because they were proficient hunting sea mammals from kayaks. this is a model of a kayak with all the different hunting tools on the death -- on the deck. there would be a paddler in the back and the person nearing -- sitting near the bowel would have a harp and that was designed to be able to hunt sea creatures, sea mammals, and sea otters specifically. they were very shy animals. hunting by kayaks allowed the hunters to get close to them

without scaring them away. the people were basically enslaved by the russians to be able to do this. it was not necessarily with their consent. took them allans over the pacific coast, transporting them from the aleutian islands and kodiak, all the way down to southeast alaska and even 1000 mile south to the coast of california. that eventually caused the depletion of sea mammals to the brink of extinction. after this he otter furs were heavily depleted, the russians turned to the pelts of land animals. native made trap from siberia that was for hunting of makes and other land animals that were of interest to the russian fur traders. the russians business model and alaska required active assistance from alaska natives. which is hard to do when you are

busy stealing their resources and lands from them. they put a lot of effort into diplomacy. in 1804, the russian navy came into southeast alaska and took over a site in now what is called sitka from the clink it people that work living there. 180 quickly had to pivot degrees and make peace with the same natives because they needed their help in harvesting the sea otter furs. and also doing things like hunting and cutting firewood, and other necessary jobs because there were not that many russians here. to help establish peace, they had a ceremony with the people on castle hill and presented the double headed eagle crest to one of their principal chiefs. this was given by a chief manager of the russian-american company to one of the clan leaders.

this is very rare. it is the only one known to have survived into modern times. they consider this a payment for the land that was taken by the russians. metal was still fairly scarce along -- among alaskan natives. they had plenty of iron that came in driftwood and wrecked ships and even iron. something like this bronze crest was really rare and probably when it was new, it was shined really an impressive artifact. by the mid-1800s, the russians ability to make a profit from their colonies in alaska was undermined by the world economy. they started looking seriously --selling out the american selling out, the americans were interested in acquiring alaska as part of their manifest destiny that they considered it their god-given duty and right to acquire land from the

atlantic all the way to the pacific. they saw a chance to acquire a russian america, as they called it, alaska, and get a huge increase of their shoreline on the pacific coast. very interested. william seward was the secretary of state at the time under abraham lincoln. he was a prime mover of america's effort to purchase alaska. eward atnting depicts s his desk, debating with a russian minister, the sovereign -- the final price. the critics at the time really felt the united states was being taken advantage of because the russians had harvested all the furs and got the resources out there were the easiest to take it manage of their they felt that was too much money. the sculpture is one of william seward and alaskans celebrate day inear, seward's

made of the negotiator who alaska part of the united states. we are looking at a canon that was brought to alaska in 1867 by the first detachment of u.s. followings, sent here the ratification of the alaska treaty. with russia. the troops were sent to set up some forts and alaska and to start the process of americanizing russian america. took several decades to accomplish. there was no civilian government in alaska until 1882. before that, starting with the u.s. army, it was under military rule pretty much. first the army, then the navy, then the revenue cutter service really served many of the basic functions of government. frankly, they could not -- they were not designed for that purpose. they were not able to do it very effectively. much nots pretty

seriously governed for the first 30 years or so of its existence under the u.s. flag. the flag itself that we have on display is one of the first american flags to be flown in alaska around the time of the purchase in 1867. were reallyves pushed of their possession of land and resources by the americans after the americans became established. the management of native affairs by the united states was a difficult problem for them. some advocated just to exterminate them entirely. other people like alaska's district governor, john brady, advocated a less drastic means. they wanted, through education, to civilize the natives. they called it, kill the indian, save the man. it was the approach. they wanted to educate them in

the ways of the american civilization. then they would be able to enter into society just like anybody else. and get a job and make money and support a family. that sort of thing. one of the impediments to that was traditional culture. and spiritual beliefs. one of the most important ceremonies among the clink it is referred to as the potlatch, or to week. of thes the final step funeral for clan members. it was when the family of the clan paid back their neighbors for all of the help the neighbors provided during other parts of the funeral. it is a really critical part for them to pay their debts. that the united states government and the missionaries viewed that as having something to do with native spiritualism which they thought competed against christianity. it also disrupted the ability of the native labor force to

participate in the cannery work another wage work that require them to show up every morning at 6:00. for those reasons and others, potlatchd to stamp out a as much as possible. i native people were resistant because they said, we cannot just stop hot latch -- potlatching. debts. how we pay our if we don't have a potlatch, we will go down in history as a major debtor. the government said, one last potlatch. the year was 1904. the house pose behind me was one of the artifacts that was brought out by the plan to put up in their clan house. it has the actual date carved in, 1904. it is by rudolf walton, one of the professional carvers of that year. after the 1904 potlatch, that was not the end. the potlatch tradition continues. it went underground for a while until the approach of the

government changed to be more supportive of traditional culture. when the american government took control of alaska emma starting in 1867, they developed a public-private partnership with the presbyterian church and manage thehes to education of alaska natives, under contract with the u.s. government. and others setns up schools in alaska. they were in charge of native -- whatn for the entire is now the state of alaska. the presbyterians were active with the boarding school called the sitka industrial school. that is where they would take young natives in and teach them there is useful trades, as far as the u.s. is concerned. boatbuilding, sewing, cooking, other trades. would allow their graduates to enter the workforce after they finished.

some of the first graduates of the sitka industrial school founded the alaskan native brotherhood and sisterhood that is the oldest native civil rights organization in the united states. that was in 1912. it is really proof that the clink it people and other tribes had a strategy toward dealing with colonization. shamansmmon -- their saw the comings of the natives -- of the non-natives and to their lands. they advised clan leaders to send their best and brightest go to thele some to schools and learn the ways of the americans once they graduated, they used the mechanisms they learned about the government and how to petition the government. and turned it around on used it to fight for the rights. in 1971 inculminated the alaskan native claimed selling -- settlement act which is when the u.s. government paid

millions of dollars to native tribes for certain land that the government wanted to keep possession of. it recognized native ownership of millions of acres of land in alaska. it was at the time, the largest nativeent with the groups in north america. the alaskan native brotherhood and sisterhood were one of their initial efforts was to gain citizenship for alaska natives. when the united states first alaska,ossession of alaska natives were not even citizens of the land that they pioneered 10,000 years previous. scrim nation and racism still exists in alaska and that is one of the reasons we decided to have this exhibit because after talking to alaska natives across the entire state, they felt it

was time to start talking about these things. this museum is a collection of artifacts we have relating to the fight for native rights and resilience in general. this was the place to start doing it. announcer: our cities tour staff recently checked -- travel to alaska to learn about its rich history. learn more about alaska and other stops on our tour at c-span.org/citiestour. you're watching american history tv. all weekend, every weekend, on c-span3. each week, american history tv's railamerica brings you archival films that provide context for today's public affairs issue. the canadian government had already carved out a series of five airports between edmonds and alberta and yukon territory. there were other fields in alaska between the yukon border and fairbanks.

consent, the united states war department decided to build a military highway from rails and at northern creek british columbia to fairbanks, alaska. to link up and supply these airfields, and to provide emergency assets to alaska for troops and material. this highway would extend roughly 1500 miles. about the distance from washington to denver. the frontier town of dawson's creek called the arrival of the first army engineer troops in march, 1942. in all, there were seven engineer regiments. or about 10,000 men. placeimmediate job was to a pioneer road, a road without frills, but a road which could be used to supply the airfield and construct a permanent road later.

i'll spring and summer, the troops hacked, cut, and couched their way through the wilderness. there were colored and white troops. all did their full share. they cut around mountainsides and across valleys. they built bridges over

full-fledged rivers. finally, on the 20th of november, 19 42, 8 months after the first troops lunged into the northern bush, the pioneer road was officially opened. the freight drove through. fairbanks, the northern terminus, founded 40 years ago in the cold mining camp, was already a modern and all-america city in the heart of the alaskan wilderness.

of course, the highway was still largely a winter road coming usable in some sections only when the ground was frozen. it's bridges were temporary and many of them would be washed out by the ice and floods in the spring. even during the winter, bridges over active streams were sometimes covered by ice, and logs had to be laid across them and cemented in place by water to keep the trucks from breaking through. and there were other hazards. upive springs would build ice that had to be fought constantly. when colbert's plugged up and ice was over the roads, it had to be cleared. even at 40 below.

or a truck might stall where isis forming. while the driver went for help, it would be frozen fast. the graves were too steep, especially when they became iced. announcer: as part of our year-long 50 capitals tour, they c-span bus made the long journey to juneau, alaska. capital of the 49th state. this weekend on c-span, on book tv, and american history tv, we will feature our stops across alaska, showing you the state's natural beauty and we will delve into alaska's unique history and literary culture. midwives have been helping women give birth throughout american history. over the past 100 years, their legal standing and relationship with the medical community has been complicated by regulations