Project Jukebox

Digital Branch of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Oral History Program

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akiachak_locator_map.jpgAkiachak - Then and Now Project Jukebox is an oral history and photographic narrative created collectively by Akiachak community members, the Yupiit Elitnaurutait staff of the Yupiit School District, and the Oral History Program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Elders and community leaders were interviewed in October 2005 and March 2006. Previously videotaped elders and one interview from the Bureau of Indian Affair's (BIA) ANCSA 14(h)(1) collection have been excerpted.

The Yupiit School District formed by the Yup'ik villages of Akiachak, Akiak, and Tuluksak, designed a program in 1999 for cultural heritage education, entitled Yupiit Elitnaurutait (Cultural Teachings), whose central principle is "to strengthen and support Yup'ik identity of students through the Yupiit Piciyarait (Way of Life)." As part of that program, Yupiit Elitnaurutait staff members collaborated with the Oral History Program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks to create the Akiachak, Akiak and Tuluksak Project Jukeboxes to bring together Yup'ik oral history, traditional knowledge, and historical documentation.

The Akiachak project was funded by the Yupiit School District and U.S. Department of Education, Alaska Native Education Grants CFDA 84/290U and CFDA 84.356A. The original Akiachak Project Jukebox was completed in 2006, and in 2021 it was upgraded from its original HTML format to Drupal. The information in this project reflects the context of the original creation date. Some information may now be out of date.homepage_rev.jpg

People

John Constantine John Selaap’aq Constantine

John Selaap'aq Constantine was a Yup'ik elder born on March 3, 1925 to Marie (Wasco) and Simeon Constantine in Russian Mission, Alaska. John grew up living a traditional subsistence lifestyle of hunting, fishing and trapping. He married Carrie Moses on October 6, 1966 at the Moravian Church in Akiachak, Alaska. In order to support his family, John worked in fish canneries and fished commercially on the Yukon River. He was a member of the Alaska National Guard and was proud of this... Read More

Moses Frederick Moses Ulurilnguq Frederick

Moses Ulurilnguq Frederick is Yup'ik and was born on July 21, 1957 to Pauline and Herman Frederick, Sr. at their fish camp near Akiachak, Alaska. Moses grew up in Akiachak as one of eight children. He became a community health aide there in 1978 and worked with and learned from Elsie Wasillie, the village's first health aide. In 1992, Moses became a village supervisor/instructor (VSI) with the Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corporation (YKHC) based in Bethel, Alaska where he travels to... Read More

Fred George Frederick Sualpi T. George

Frederick Sualpi T. George is Yup'ik and was born on February 15, 1938 to Annie and Joseph George in Akiachak, Alaska. Although, his recorded birth date is March 15, 1938. He grew up living a traditional nomadic subsistence lifestyle of hunting, fishing, and trapping. He was married to the late Mary M. George, with whom he had seven children and numerous grandchildren. As an elder, Fred loved to go to the school to educate students in traditional navigation, string stories,... Read More

Olinka George Olinka Vendella Laviissi George

Olinka Vendella Laviissi (Ivanoff) George is Yup'ik and was born on October 21, 1932 to Sophie Nastasia (Chase) Ivanoff in Nunacuaq, Alaska. After the village was abandoned, she grew up in the new nearby village of Nunaptichak with her mother and stepfather, Misha Ivanoff, and is where she attended school. Olinka moved to Akiachak when she married Lott George, and together they raised six children. She learned to sew skins when she was young and became an expert craftswoman who was... Read More

Tom Kasayulie Tom Nurauq Kasayulie

Tom Nurauq Kasayulie was a Yup'ik elder born on November 15, 1918 to Mary Qen'rauq Kasayulie near Dillingham, Alaska. Tom was raised by his mother and his uncle from Akiak, Willie Kasayulie, a younger brother of his mother. After his mother died, Tom moved to Akiachak when he was a boy, and then during an influenza epidemic he moved to the mountains where he became a reindeer herder and trapper along with people then called Laplanders (Saami). Tom remembers when the first... Read More

Willie Kasayulie Willie Qassayuli Kasayulie

Willie Qassayuli Kasayulie is Yup'ik and was born on June 1, 1951 to Tom and Elsie (Wassilie) Kasayulie in Fairbanks, Alaska. Willie was raised in Akiachak, Alaska, and attended boarding schools in Wrangell, Alaska and Oregon. He was seen as a promising student at Oregon’s Chemawa Indian School and was selected to attend a high school in Vermont for his final years. Willie returned to Alaska in 1971 the same year the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act was passed and he soon was... Read More

Joe Lomack Joseph Uyaquq Lomack

Joseph Uyaquq "Joe" Lomack was a Yup'ik elder born on December 27, 1924 to Elizabeth Makcuilnguq (Andrew) and Louis Ilegvak Lomack in Akiachak, Alaska. Joseph grew up living a traditional subsistence lifestyle, and in his younger days, he remembers reindeer herds in the Akiachak area. Later, he wore many hats in his lifetime. He was one of the health workers in the community before the Community Health Aide Program started in Alaska and formally trained local... Read More

Nellie Moses Nellie Ilegvak Moses

Nellie Ilegvak (Fritz) Moses is Yup'ik and was born November 15, 1934 to Louise and Senakvaq Henry in Akiachak, Alaska. Nellie grew up living a traditional nomadic subsistence lifestyle of hunting, fishing, trapping and berry picking. She enjoyed becoming aware in the yuilquq (subsistence camp) and remembered fondly the days when people practiced the subsistence way of life. She married George Moses, Sr. on August 24, 1953, and together they raised ten children.... Read More

George Moses Sr. George Ayaginaar Moses, Sr.

George Ayaginaar Moses, Sr. was a Yup'ik elder born on January 6, 1920 in Kwethluk, Alaska. George was in the Alaska Territorial Guard during World War II and then the Alaska National Guard until he retired in 1956. George had three children from his first marriage, and on August 24,1953, he married his second wife, Nellie Moses, and together they raised eight children, including one they adopted. To support his large family, George worked in fish canneries in Bristol Bay and was a... Read More

Elizabeth Peter Elizabeth Naparyaq Peter

Elizabeth Naparyaq (Lomack) Peter was a Yup'ik elder born on July 4, 1928 to Elizabeth Makcuilnguq (Andrew) and Louis Ilegvak Lomack in Akiachak, Alaska. Elizabeth grew up living a traditional nomadic subsistence lifestyle and has great memories of moving between fall camps, spring camps, fish camps, berry camps and reindeer camps. She spent time with tamed reindeer at a corral at Cassrucaraq behind Akiachak and remembers when reindeer were slaughtered... Read More

George Peter George Ayak’aq Peter

George Ayak’aq Peter is Yup'ik and was born on December 3, 1956 to Elizabeth (Lomack) Peter and Edward Peter in Bethel, Alaska. George grew up in Akiachak, Alaska where he attended elementary school at the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) school, and then went to high school at Mt. Edgecumbe School in Sitka, Alaska. He later completed two years of college courses at the Kuskokwim Campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks (KUC) in Bethel. George served as the Tribal Administrator... Read More

James Peter, Sr. James Qukailnguq Peter, Sr.

James Qukailnguq Peter, Sr. was a Yup'ik elder born on October 28, 1924 to Christine and Hansen Peter in Kwigillingok, Alaska. James did cannery work in Naknek, Alaska in the Bristol Bay region for five to six years, was a firefighter for three to four years in Anchorage, and ran the store for Marie Forrest in Akiachak. James was in the Alaska Territorial Guard during World War II, and then the Alaska National Guard for 20 years. James was married to Annie (Nick) Peter of Akiachak,... Read More

Joshua Phillip Joshua Acurunaq Phillip

Joshua Acurunaq Makista Phillip was a Yup'ik elder born on January 1, 1912 to Anna (Jackson) Phillip, from Kwethluk, and Phillip Anglluralria in Akiachak, Alaska. His father served as a lay pastor at Qinaq, an abandoned village near what is now Tuntutuliak, and Joshua's grandfather, Wassilie Anguyagpaq, was the first lay pastor with the Moravian Church in Akiachak. Joshua's first wife was Carrie Ayak'aq Lomack, with whom he had four children:... Read More

Joe Slats Joseph Arrssauyaq Slats

Joseph Arrssauyaq "Joe" Slats is Yup'ik/Cup'ik and was born on November 28, 1953 to Monica (Friday) and Gregory Slats in Chevak, Alaska. He grew up in Chevak, and went to high school in St. Mary’s for one-and-a-half years, in Bethel for one semester, and another year-and-a-half in Anchorage. He also participated in a program that took him to Japan for three months. After high school, Joe  attended the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) for three years, transferring to the... Read More

Elsie Wassilie Elsie Iqsak Wassilie

Elsie Iqsak (Alexie) Wassilie is Yup'ik and was born on February 13, 1927 to Minnie and Qerataur Alexie in Akiak, Alaska. She grew up in Akiak living a traditional subsistence lifestyle and completed 4th and part of 5th grade. In 1947, she moved to Akiachak, after marrying John Wassilie who was from Akiachak. Together they raised, four children and three step-children. Elsie worked as a community health aide in Akiachak for more than sixteen years, was a midwife, and pulled... Read More

Tom Wassilie Tom Kiarcimalria Wassilie

Tom Kiarcimalria Wassilie is Yup'ik and was born on March 19, 1941 to Helena and John Wassilie in Akiachak, Alaska. Tom's parents passed away while he was young, and he stayed most of the time after that with his father’s mother, Anna Cyril. She was his teacher, who had him go out very early every morning without his shoes to check the weather. Her subsistence camps were at Pugcenar and Taqikarpak on the Elaayiq River. Mike Cyril taught Tom how to hunt, trap, fish... Read More