The history of slavery in Alaska is different from that of the other states that comprise the United States of America. Whereas the continental United States mostly saw enslavement of Africans brought across the Atlantic Ocean, in Alaska indigenous people, and some whites, enslaved indigenous people from other tribes.
The Haida and Tlingit tribes held slaves. Some of these enslaved people escaped to the Ebbits who took them in. This in turn brought forth the wrath of the Haida and Tlingit, which resulted in the Ebbits losing territory to the aggrieved tribes.[1]
When Alaska was purchased by the United States, slavery became illegal in Alaska. When the Ebbits discovered this, thinking it was due to Abraham Lincoln issuing the Emancipation Proclamation, they built a totem pole in Abraham Lincoln's honor. A common addition to the story is that one group of Tlingit was escaping another, and was told by an American ship that Lincoln had stopped slavery. However, some authorities say that the totem pole was actually built by the proslavery Tlingit to shame Lincoln, not to honor him. The totem was 55 feet tall and bore the likeness of Lincoln wearing a silk hat and frock coat. The totem is currently at the Alaska State Museum in the state capital of Juneau, Alaska.[1][2][3]
Slavery was abolished in all states under the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution which took effect on December 18, 1865.
Nevertheless, some indigenous tribes continued to practice slavery. This involved members of a tribe selling their own daughters for blankets, or enslaving members of other tribes captured in war. The women so captured were usually kept as slaves, but the captured men were often cannibalized. Slavery continued deep within the state after the tradition had largely ended around the coast.[4]
In 1903 there were still documented cases of slavery in the state. Aleutian girls could be purchased by wealthy families to do the housework, and were often not allowed to participate in child play or become educated. These girls tended to come from the Atta Islands.[5]
In 2001, four individuals were arrested for enslaving six Russian females, two of whom were only sixteen, for the purpose of having them perform in strip clubs, under threat of violence if they did not comply.[6]
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