Wrangell Institute

Wrangell Institute was an American Indian boarding school in Wrangell, Alaska, United States, operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs for natives of Alaska. It operated from 1932 until 1975.[1]

History

In 1877, the first Presbyterian church in Alaska, the first Protestant church of any kind in the area, was founded near its current location at 220 Church Street. Reverend S. Hall Young, a colleague of Sheldon Jackson was assigned to the Wrangell mission and arrived on July 10, 1878.[2] He worked among both miners and Tlingits. He established the Fort Wrangell Tlingit Industrial School to teach young Tlingit men various American trades, such as printing, boatbuilding, and construction. This institution was a parallel to Sheldon Jackson's Sitka Industrial Training School, which became Sheldon Jackson College.

The Wrangell Institute was established by the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) in 1932, on a site a few miles south of Wrangell, with an initial intake of 71 students. It was described as "one of the pet projects of the Roosevelt Administration".[1]

Children were forced by the BIA to attend the school, which for some was a traumatic experience as they were flown from the open tundra of their home to a forested and mountainous region where they were forbidden to speak their native language and in some cases were subjected to violence and sexual abuse.[3][4]

During World War II, in 1942, Aleuts were evacuated to a tented encampment on the site.[1]

The school closed in 1975, partly as a result of the "Molly Hootch case" (Tobeluk v. Lind) which forced the government to provide local schools in villages with eight or more children.[4]

Legacy

In 2016 there were plans to build a new boarding school on the site of the former Wrangell Institute.[5][4]

References
  1. "World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska - Chapter 5: Wrangell Institute". National Park Service. Retrieved 6 January 2019. Gives a very thorough history of the site and buildings, including illustrations and floorplans
  2. Young, S. Hall. 1927. Hall Young of Alaska. Fleming Revell
  3. Wells, Don; Wells, Diane (14 April 2014). "The Indian Industrial and Boarding Schools – Part 4". Smoke Signals: News and views from Big Canoe and around North Georgia. Retrieved 6 January 2019.
  4. Bolton, Aaron (13 July 2016). "Why a Wrangell boarding school plan stirs bad memories — and opportunity". Ktoo Public Media. Retrieved 6 January 2019.
  5. Bolton, Aaron (31 May 2016). "Former Wrangell Institute property could see another boarding school". Alaska Public Media. Retrieved 6 January 2019.


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