"Crow Village" Sam Phillips (

Yup'ik The Yupʼik or Yupiaq (sg & pl) and Yupiit or Yupiat (pl), also Central Alaskan Yupʼik, Central Yupʼik, Alaskan Yupʼik ( own name ''Yupʼik'' sg ''Yupiik'' dual ''Yupiit'' pl; Russian: Юпики центральной Аляски), are an ...

, c. 1893–1974) was an

Alaskan Native Alaska Natives (also known as Native Alaskans, Alaskan Indians, or Indigenous Alaskans) are the Indigenous peoples of Alaska that encompass a diverse arena of cultural and linguistic groups, including the Iñupiat, Yupik, Aleut, Eyak, Tlin ...

leader who lived in the mid-

Kuskokwim River The Kuskokwim River or Kusko River ( Yupʼik: ''Kusquqvak''; Deg Xinag: ''Digenegh''; Upper Kuskokwim: ''Dichinanekʼ''; (''Kuskokvim'')) is a river, long, in Southwest Alaska in the United States. It is the ninth largest river in the Unit ...

valley in

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

Early life

Sam Phillips was born around 1893 in the old Crow Village, Alaska. Birth records in the area were not maintained until 1914, so that date is based on Crow Village Sam's recollection as told to

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

Wendell H. Oswalt in 1963.Oswalt, Wendell H. & James W. Vanstone (1967). "The Ethnoarchaeology of Crow Village, Alaska," reprinted by Coyote Press. When Phillips was about 10 years old, he and his community evacuated from Old Crow Village due to shifts in the Kuskokwim River sediment. They settled a half-mile downriver. Their more recent settlement was called New Crow Village. Today, it is simply called Crow Village and the original settlement is referred to as Old Crow Village. Phillips survived the ''kanukpuk'' or "big sickness", an early 20th-century

influenza Influenza, commonly known as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These sympto ...

epidemic that wiped out about 50 percent of the population along the Kuskokwim River. Later, he lived in Akiak, and

Chuathbaluk Chuathbaluk () is a city in Bethel Census Area, Alaska, Bethel Census Area, Alaska, United States. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the population was 102, down from 118 in 2010. Geography Chuathbaluk is located at (61.575693, -1 ...

Community leadership

By the 1950s, Sam Phillips was recognized as the leader of the Native Yupiit living in the mid-Kuskokwim valley. He was an accomplished boat builder, woodworker, and

snowshoe Snowshoes are specialized outdoor gear for walking over snow. Their large footprint spreads the user's weight out and allows them to travel largely on top of rather than through snow. Adjustable bindings attach them to appropriate winter footw ...

-maker among other things. He was fluent in the

English language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

, which was a great asset in his leadership role. In 1954, to avoid epidemics, Sam Phillips orchestrated a collective relocation from New Crow Village inhabitants upstream to Chuathbaluk, Alaska. Chuathbaluk was a village located 18 miles upstream from Crow Village that had been abandoned since 1929. Yup'ik people from Aniak and Crooked Creek later joined the Phillips family at Chuathbaluk. The community later became part of the

federally recognized This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States. There are also federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. , 574 Indian tribes are legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the United States.

Chuathbaluk Traditional Council, part of the

Calista Corporation Calista Corporation (pronounced ) is one of thirteen Alaska Native Regional Corporations created under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 (ANCSA) in settlement of aboriginal land claims. Calista was incorporated in Alaska on June 12, 1 ...

, an Alaska Native Regional Corporation. In the 1950s, Sam Phillips and other men from the community built a new church, St. Sergious Church, at Chuathbaluk to replace the original

Russian Orthodox church The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...

built between 1897 and 1905. Sam Phillips still maintained a fish camp at the abandoned Crow Village with a large fish smokehouse. Later he installed a wind-powered generator at Crow Village to supply his radio with electricity. Crow Sam Phillips was an avid subsistence fisher and had the largest fish smokehouse in Chuathbaluk as well. In 1963, Phillips shared cultural information and traditional oral history of Yup'ik peoples with Wendell H. Oswalt. This project reflected a new approach to archaeology by learning from living

oral history Oral history is the collection and study of historical information from people, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people who pa ...

. With the 1971 passage of the

Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) was signed into law by U.S. President, President Richard Nixon on December 18, 1971, constituting what is still the largest land claims settlement in United States history. ANCSA was intended to reso ...

, the title to the lands including Crow Village was given to Sam Phillips, since he could fill out the English-language paperwork. His son inherited the land, followed by his grandson David Phillips.

Personal life

Sam Phillips married three times. Each wife, named Lucy, died. He had at least seven children from his first wife. It has been reported by some of his descendants that Sam was of half Russian ancestry.

Death and legacy

Sam Phillips died in 1974 at the age of 81. That was remarkable longevity for a person living in his region during the 20th century. In 1991, the Chuathbaluk grade school built in 1969 was renamed Crow Village Sam School in his honor.

References

External links