Wrangell Institute was an

American Indian boarding school American Indian boarding schools, also known more recently as American Indian residential schools, were established in the United States from the mid-17th to the early 20th centuries with a main primary objective of "civilizing" or assimilat ...

Wrangell, Alaska Wrangell (, ) is a List of boroughs and census areas in Alaska, borough in Alaska, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the population was 2,127, down from 2,369 in 2010. Incorporated as a consolidated city–county ...

, United States, operated 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 ...

for natives of Alaska. It operated from 1932 until 1975. ''Gives a very thorough history of the site and buildings, including illustrations and floorplans''

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 in Wrangell at 220 Church Street. Reverend S. Hall Young, a colleague of minister

Sheldon Jackson Sheldon Jackson (May 18, 1834 – May 2, 1909) was a Presbyterian minister, missionary, and political leader. During this career he travelled about one million miles (1.6 million km) and established more than one hundred missions and churches ...

, was assigned to the Wrangell mission. He arrived on July 10, 1878. Young worked among both miners and the

Tlingit The Tlingit or Lingít ( ) are Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. , they constitute two of the 231 federally recognized List of Alaska Native tribal entities, Tribes of Alaska. Most Tlingit are Alaska Natives; ...

. He established the Fort Wrangell Tlingit Industrial School to teach young Tlingit men various American trades, such as printing, boatbuilding, and construction from 1877 to 1907. This institution was a parallel to Sheldon Jackson's Sitka Industrial Training School, which later developed as

Sheldon Jackson College 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 ...

. The Wrangell Institute was established in 1932 by the United States

(BIA) on a site a few miles south of Wrangell. In its first year, it had 71 students. It was described as "one of the pet projects of the Roosevelt Administration". Children were forced by the BIA to attend the school, which for some was a traumatic experience. Some were brought from homes on the open tundra to a forested and mountainous region. At the school, they were forbidden to speak their native language and in some cases were subjected to violence and sexual abuse. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

in 1942

Aleut Aleuts ( ; (west) or (east) ) are the Indigenous people of the Aleutian Islands, which are located between the North Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea. Both the Aleuts and the islands are politically divided between the US state of Alaska ...

s were evacuated from northern Alaska and housed in a tented encampment on the site. The school closed in 1975. That year, the

Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975 The Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975 (Public Law 93-638) authorized the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, and some other government agencies to enter into contracts with, ...

was passed, enabling tribes to contract with the BIA to provide and manage education for their children. They took over some schools located on reservations or built new ones, so that their children would not have to go away to be educated. In addition, in the "Molly Hootch case" ('' Tobeluk v. Lind''), the federal court ruled that the federal government had to provide local schools in villages that had eight or more children.

Legacy

In 2016, there were plans to build a new boarding school on the site of the former Wrangell Institute.

References

Boarding schools in Alaska Defunct schools in Alaska Native American boarding schools Educational institutions established in 1932 Educational institutions disestablished in 1975 1932 establishments in Alaska {{Alaska-school-stub