America 250: How Alaska's indigenous residents were forced to harvest seals

NPR | By Theo Greenly

Published July 3, 2026 at 4:14 AM EDT

When the United States bought Alaska from Russia in 1867, it took ownership of the Pribilof islands, home to the Russian-American Company's commercial fur-seal enterprise — and to the Unangax^ people who were forced to harvest the seals as "wards of the state." Indigenous residents continued to live under government supervision until 1983, when Congress finally transferred local control of the Pribilof Islands to the Unangax^ people themselves. From Theo Greenly of Alaska Public

Theo Greenly

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