Hannah Paul Solomon
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Hannah Paul Solomon (; October 10, 1908Solomon's birth year is variously given as 1908, 1909, and 1910 in sources, and she was adopted as a baby, which complicates the dating. Her obituaries gave 1908 as the date. Her marriage license in 1927 (from Ancestry.com) was signed by her mother because she was a minor under 18 years old, which might suggest a later year. – September 16, 2011) was an American community leader and artist. She was the first female mayor of
Fort Yukon, Alaska Fort Yukon (''Gwichyaa Zheh'' in Gwich'in) is a city in the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area in the U.S. state of Alaska, straddling the Arctic Circle. The population, predominantly Gwich'in Alaska Natives, was 428 at the 2020 census, down from 59 ...
, helped organize the Fairbanks Native Association, and was inducted into the Alaska Women's Hall of Fame in 2012. Her traditional
beadwork Beadwork is the art or craft of attaching beads to one another by stringing them onto a thread or thin wire with a sewing or beading needle or sewing them to cloth. Beads are produced in a diverse range of materials, shapes, and sizes, and vary ...
is in the collections of several museums.


Early life

She was born in
Rampart Rampart may refer to: * Rampart (fortification), a defensive wall or bank around a castle, fort or settlement Rampart may also refer to: * LAPD Rampart Division, a division of the Los Angeles Police Department ** Rampart scandal, a blanket ter ...
, a village on the Porcupine River, near the Canadian-Alaskan border. Her first language was Gwich'in. She was adopted by older
Athabascan Athabaskan ( ; also spelled ''Athabascan'', ''Athapaskan'' or ''Athapascan'', and also known as Dene) is a large branch of the Na-Dene language family of North America, located in western North America in three areal language groups: Northern, ...
parents, Mardow and Eliza Mardow. She attended a one-room school run by the
Bureau of Indian Affairs The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States List of United States federal agencies, federal agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior, Department of the Interior. It is responsible for im ...
in Fort Yukon.


Career

Solomon helped to organize the Fairbanks Native Association and the Fairbanks Native Community Center, along with her longtime friend
Poldine Carlo Poldine Demoski Carlo (December 5, 1920 – May 9, 2018) was an American author and an American Indian elder, elder of the Koyukon people, Koyukon Alaskan Athabaskans, native people of Alaska. Born in Nulato, Alaska, Nulato, Territory of Alaska ...
and others. She served on the board of directors of the Gwichyaa Zhee Corporation. She was active in other organizations, including Doyon Limited,
Tanana Chiefs Conference The Tanana Chiefs Conference (TCC), the traditional tribal consortium of the 42 villages of Interior Alaska, is a non-profit organization that works toward meeting the needs and challenges for more than 10,000 Alaska Natives (mostly Alaskan Atha ...
and the
Alaska Federation of Natives The Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN) is the largest statewide Native organization in the state of Alaska, United States. Its membership includes 178 villages (both federally recognized tribes and village corporations), thirteen regional native ...
. She served in the first city council of Fort Yukon in 1960, and was the first woman to be elected mayor of the city. In 1991 she gave an oral history interview to the
University of Alaska Fairbanks The University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF or Alaska) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-, National Sea Grant College Program, sea-, and National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program, space-grant research university in ...
Rasmuson Library's Oral History Collection. She was inducted into the Alaska Women's Hall of Fame in 2012. Solomon was known for her traditional
beadwork Beadwork is the art or craft of attaching beads to one another by stringing them onto a thread or thin wire with a sewing or beading needle or sewing them to cloth. Beads are produced in a diverse range of materials, shapes, and sizes, and vary ...
. "When I was young we had nothing to do when we got home from school so I learned to sew," she explained in 1965. In 1967, she demonstrated beadwork as part of the "Native Village" exhibit at the Alaska 67 Centennial Exposition. Beadwork items made by Solomon are in the collections of the Rasmuson Museum in Anchorage and the Alaska Native Medical Center, among other institutions. A video about Solomon's art was shown at the
Sheldon Jackson Museum Sheldon Jackson College (SJC) was a small private college located on Baranof Island in Sitka, Alaska, United States. Founded in 1878, it was the oldest institution of higher learning in Alaska and maintained a historic relationship with the Pr ...
in 1988 and 1990.


Personal life and legacy

Mardow married Paul Solomon, a trapper and
carpenter Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. Carpenter ...
, in 1927. They had 14 children together, including activist
Jonathon Solomon Jonathon Solomon (March 10, 1932 – July 13, 2006) was a native Gwich'in from Fort Yukon, Alaska, USA, and a member of the U.S. delegation to the International Porcupine Caribou Agreement between Canada and U.S. He served as the Traditional Chi ...
. She was widowed when her husband died in 1973. She died in 2011, aged 102, at her home in Fairbanks. There is a Hannah Paul Solomon "Woman of Courage" Award given annually by the Fairbanks Native Association.


Notes


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Solomon, Hannah Paul 1908 births 2011 deaths 20th-century Alaska Native people 21st-century Alaska Native people Alaska Native activists Alaska Native women American women centenarians People from Fort Yukon, Alaska Women mayors of places in Alaska 21st-century American artists 21st-century American women artists 20th-century American artists 20th-century American women artists Native American beadworkers American beadworkers 20th-century Native American women 20th-century Native American artists 21st-century Native American women 21st-century Native American artists Women beadworkers Artists from Alaska Native American women artists American Gwich'in people