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Timeline of Chevak History Highlighted = What's happening elsewhere in Alaska |
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Many dates are tentative (7/28/02) |
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| Precontact | First Ancestors |
| Raven makes Qissunaq, with his kayak and paddle. | |
| People could no longer look at Raven | |
| Time when the land was thin | |
| Bow & arrow wars | |
| Post Contact | |
| 1741 | Vitus Bering, sailing for the Russain Czar, goes ashore in Alaska. Soon after dies & is buried on Bering Island. |
| 1784 | First European settlement in Alaska (on Kodiak). |
| 1799 | Czar Paul claims Alaska for Russia |
| 1843 | First mission school for Natives established in Nushagak by Russian-Greek Orthodox Church. |
| 1800-1860 | Contacts w/ Russian traders in Yukon-Kuskokwim region |
| 1867 | Alaska Purchase |
| Swedish Evangelicals, Moravians, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Congregationalists, and Catholics begin establishing schools & proselytizing throughout Alaska | |
| 1877-1881 | Edward Nelson--The Man Who Buys Good-for-Nothing Things -- arrives, buys kayaks, parkas, baskets and other things that the people can just make again |
| 1878 | Salmon canneries begin operating in Alaska -- later, people from Chevak would work in this industry |
| 1880 | Smallpox epidemic |
| 1885 | Sheldon Jackson, U.S. Commissioner of Education for Alaska, divides Alaska among competing religions-- Qissunaq is in Catholic area |
| 1887 | Exclusive use of English in Indian schools established at Dept of Interior policy |
| ca. 1900 | Father Treca, first traveling priest in Qissunaq |
| ca. 1900 | Dancing (yuraq) stops, along with drumming, mask making, and shamans due to Catholic beliefs that the priests bring with them. |
| ca. 1915 | Father Menager establishes Catholic churches in Hooper Bay & Qissunaq (Hooper already had a Covenant Church); fluent Cup'ik speaker, indoctrinated people of Qissunaq with Catholic beliefs |
| 1918 | Great Flu Epidemic |
| 1928 | Father Fox, traveling priest, comes to Qissunaq |
| ca. 1928 | People decide to dance and drum again. Masks, drumming and dancing are only used for entertainment, not for shaman like purposes. |
| ca. 1930 | Father Convert, stationed in Qissunaq |
| 1930 | Andrew Ayuluk (elder working with the institute) born |
| 1931 | Cecilia Pingayaq Andrews (elder working with the institute) born |
| 1932 | Wrangell Institute Boarding School, where later J Pingayaq is a student, opened by the Alaska Indian Service, precursor to the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) |
| Albert Ulroan (elder working with the institute) born | |
| 1936 | Indian Reorganization Act: policy from Roosevelt administration that enabled tribes to create self-government. Tribal (or Traditional) Council created on reservations & some Alaska communities |
| 1940 | Glenn Collins, first Fish & Wildlife agent |
| 1945 | Ida Hunter, first mission teacher, volunteer from Holy Cross, marries Hooper Bay man |
| Territorial legislature ends legal segregation in Alaska | |
| 1946 | As many as 30 children in Qissunaq die after coming into contact with material from one of the "fubo" balloons released in Japan during WWII and brought to the village by a hunter (despite warnings from the Elders) |
| 1947 | Mt. Edgecumbe Boarding School opens in Sitka |
| 1948 | Father Hargraves arrives |
| Men begin going to Dillingham & Bristol Bay to work in canneries -- see talking movies for first time, consumer goods, gussaq (white people) food; women had to do subsistence activities | |
| Big Flood | |
| 1950 | Move to New Chevak |
| Windmills provided early power | |
| Snowmobiles begin to appear, replacing dog teams | |
| Camille Fox, first interpreter | |
| BIA becomes a major factor in life of the village | |
| 1952 | Policy of BIA in Eisenhower administration: To acculturate American Indians & Alaska Natives. Policies in 50s included suppression of Native languages & relocation of Alaska Natives to the Lower 48. |
| 1953 | BIA Elementary School opens, children learn English and are not allowed to speak Cup'ik in shcool. |
| 1954-55 | Cecilia Pingayaq Andrews goes to Seward for training to care for TB patients; many Delta residents sent to Anchorage, Sitka, Seattle, Tacoma for TB treatment during 50s and early 60s |
| 1959-60 | John Pingayaq, age 11, sent to boarding school at the Wrangell Institute. |
| Alaska Statehood Act passes, protecting Native lands | |
| 1960 | Andrew Ayuluk sent to Seattle for TB treatment |
| Removal of ivory & wood monument to ancestors by Fish & Wildlife or surveyors | |
| Land noticeably begins to warm | |
| 1965 | Teresa Ulroan to St. Mary's (grades 7-12). Many future village leaders attend St, Mary's in the 60s and 70s. |
| State-operated regional boarding schools open | |
| 1966 | Alaska Federation of Natives created |
| 1968 | Electricity comes to the village |
| 1969 | Last goose gosling round-up |
| 1970 | Chevak Village Youth Association created by St. Mary's graduate and students to provide recreational activities for teenagers & others. |
| 2nd BIA school burns down | |
| Eider duck confrontation in Barrow | |
| 1971 | Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act |
| Creation of Chevak Village Corporation | |
| Marine Mammal Protection Act passes, safeguards right so Alaska Native to harvest marine mammals | |
| 1973 (?) | Present school opens |
| 1974 | Headstart building |
| 1975 | Passage of Indian Self-Determination Act & Educational Assistance Act (PL 93-638). Chevak Traditional Council used this law to contract to run their own school. |
| 1976 | Consent degree in Molly Hootch case directs state to build high schools in rural communities |
| Rural Education Attendance Areas (REAAs) created | |
| 1977 | Start of Chevak Cultural heritage Center |
| 1978(?) | First telephone in village |
| 1980 | Traditional Council contracts with BIA to run the school -- becomes first BIA secondary school in the nation to be contracted |
| Alaska Native Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) becomes law, supports "traditional and customary use" of land for rural subsistence. Also establishes rural subsistence preference in times of shortages. | |
| 1981 | Satellite dish for TV in Chevak |
| 1983 | Big Wind -- lots of destruction |
| 1985 | Yupiit School District secedes from Lower Kuskokwim School District |
| 1986 | Kashunamiut School District created |
| 1987 | Fish & Game enforcement officer held captive in Quinahak |
| 1991 | KCUK (Chevak's radio station) goes on air |
| 1996 | Internet accessible in Chevak |
| 1999 | Chevak Web site created (Alaskool.org) |
| 2000 | Water & sewer provided for first time to individual homes in Chevak |
| Construction of new airport begins | |
| 2002 | Construction of new school begins |