Among the Missionaries of Douglas, Alaska: An Examination of Charles Replogle's Among the Indians of Alaska
Alaska's history of education is intimately intertwined with the falsely constructed idea that the Alaska Native peoples portray significant cognitive differences compared to the white missionaries and teachers who educated them - with the differences being seen as entirely negative. In his 1904 memoir, Among the Indians of Alaska, Charles Replogle contributes to this false idea through his account of the mission work he did on Douglas Island, Alaska, where he oversaw the processes of education for the Tlingit people of the region. In the excerpt that I analyze in my poster, Replogle isolates the Tlingit people, specifically the men from the white missionaries, dehumanizes them, and further implies the supremacy of American culture and English. Replogle was not the pioneer of this line of thought, nor was he the last to think and write about it; Replogle was simply aligning his own conceptions of the Tlingit men with the trending academic and government thought of Alaska Natives in the time period.
During this era of Alaskan history, there were a few things that occurred that officially led up to Replogle's mission on Douglas Island that I mention in the poster. Briefly, Alaska was gaining power as a government, granted by the purchase of Alaska as a territory in 1867 (Barnhardt 9) and the Organic Act that was passed in 1884 (11). Alaska being purchased was the event that really brought forward quite a few colonists to the - what would have been at the time - territory. This allowed the missionaries to receive funding for their endeavors and for a very limited government to come to fruition. The Organic Act that passed around two decades later gave a greater power to the government of Alaska, and also brought a lot of federal government interest alongside it, as more and more legislation began to get passed that would increase the amount of influence the federal government had over Alaska for years to come.
The excerpt of Replogle's work is a product of the American notion that our ideals and values are far greater than any other country's or culture's. The language that Replogle uses throughout is an example of this. The way he switches pronouns between himself, his audience, and the Tlingit people, while also falsely complimenting them, is an attempt to dehumanize and assert a sort of superiority over the Tlingit people. He utilizes the ability to reason as a marker for intelligence, and develops a sort of litmus test in order to determine whether or not the Tlingit men fit the bill.
KEVIN FLEMING is a junior pursuing an Baccalaureate in English with a minor in Philosophy. Selected by Professor Jennifer Stone.