Indigenous Alaskan Teens & Elders Document Enslavement Histories https://grants.dudleytdoughertyfoundation.org/proposals-2020/indigenous-alaskan-teens-elders-document-enslavement-histories https://grants.dudleytdoughertyfoundation.org/@@site-logo/sitelogo-75x75.png

Indigenous Alaskan Teens & Elders Document Enslavement Histories

Additional Information
Used for	See Stories is seeking funding to lead a virtual documentary film internship with Indigenous Alaskan teens to interview elders and document histories of enslavement. The project builds upon "The Forgotten Slavery of Our Ancestors" (https://vimeo.com/463565227), a film produced by See Stories for Teaching Tolerance, documenting the history of enslavement of Indigenous peoples in the United States. Participating teens would each create a podcast and a documentary film about Indigenous enslavement based upon elder / community interviews and primary sources.
Benefits	This film internship would 1) provide an educational opportunity for Indigenous teens during COVID, 2) document and disseminate vital stories before Elders pass on, and 3) would help educate a wider audience in this history that is foundational to our Nation to support healing from historical trauma for Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.
Proposal Description	Organizational Summary: See Stories' mission is to build inclusive communities with film and story. We lead documentary film workshops with Alaska Native, immigrant and refugee youth, as well as incarcerated youth in order to engage them in documenting vital community (his)stories. Each film workshop culminates in a community film screening to celebrate youth productions, and also to engage communities in conversation and reflection. We also provide teacher professional development so that educators around Alaska can engage their students in digital storytelling, and See Stories creates professional productions to further our mission to build inclusive communities. Our Board of Directors primary consists of Indigenous Alaskans, and also includes other community leaders of color, so that our Board reflects the demographics of the youth we engage with our programming. See Stories started as a sole proprietorship in 2010, and obtained 501(c)3 status in 2019, and has transitioned successfully to virtual programming in response to COVID-19. Project Summary and Goals: See Stories' vision with this project is to lead a digital storytelling and podcasting virtual film workshop for Alaska Native Youth from throughout Alaska, teaching them to virtually interview elders and community members about histories of Indigenous enslavement in Alaska, engage with primary sources, and create documentary films and podcasts based upon their footage. This project emerged from a 12 minute professional production that See Stories produced for Teaching Tolerance on the history of Indigenous Enslavement in the United States in partnership with Iñupiaq Director Howdice Brown III and Iñupiaq Assistant Producer Alice Qannik Glenn of the acclaimed podcast Coffee and Quaq (view the film here: https://vimeo.com/463565227). When producing this film, it was clear to the entire team that not only were we ourselves unaware of the history of Indigenous enslavement, but that most people whether Indigenous or not were completely unaware of the ways that Indigenous enslavement shaped (and continue to shape) our Nation. We also learned about Indigenous scholars and culture bearers working to document these stories and repatriate the archives related to these histories. This project is a direct response to our desire to support Indigenous communities to document these histories in order to better understand current circumstances, and ultimately in order to start the healing process from this historical trauma. The goals for this project are as follows: 1) To provide a virtual educational opportunity for Alaska Native teens, supporting them to gain both soft and hard communication skills ranging from developing interview questions to conducting interviews, and then engaging in post-production and editing for both films and podcasts. These skills will support teens with future job, educational, and entrepeneurial opportunities. 2) To support the preservation of Alaska Native histories through elder interviews and compiling archival material related to the history of Indigenous enslavement, with an eye to healing historical trauma through storytelling and truth-telling in order to enhance Indigenous communities. 3) To create a body of youth produced films and podcasts that can educate the wider public about the little known and even less understood topic of Indigenous enslavement. Partners: Marie Acemah of See Stories will instruct the virtual film workshop together with Alice Qannik Glenn, Iñupiaq founder of the Coffee and Quaq podcast (https://www.coffeeandquaq.com). Alice has an ongoing MoU to collaborate with See Stories, will support participating youth to gain skills in podcasting, and Marie will support youth to engage in the documentary filmmaking component of the course. Dr. Sven Haakanson, a Sugpiaq Anthropologist who has studied the history of slavery in his home community on Kodiak, will serve as an advisor an interviewee for the project. Dr. Haakanson is featured in "The Forgotten Slavery of Our Ancestors" and is already an active project partner. Yup'ik artist Amber Webb (@imarpikink) has been doing research into her own family's history of enslavement, and will also serve as project advisor, interviewee, and help recruit students and elders to participate in the workshop. In order to recruit Alaska Native youth to participate in the virtual film workshop, See Stories will not only collaborate with the above project partners, but will also liaise with various Tribal Council and school leaders, which See Stories already has a strong connection with after leading many film workshops in 20+ villages throughout the State. Activities: The project timeline spans from February 2021 - December 2021, and the project can scale up starting in 2022. The three main phases in 2021 are: Planning (February - August 2021): The planning phase is very critical because of the sensitivity of the topic. Communities, youth, and elders will need to be approached with a great degree of thoughtfulness and respect. The project team (Marie, Alice, Sven, & Amber) will reach out to Indigenous people and communities primarily along coastal Southwest Alaska (from Kodiak to the Aleutians) where Russians enslaved Sugpiaq to hunt sea otter pelts, and also where the Unangan were held as Prisoners of War by the United States during WWII (a little known story). During the planning phase, See Stories will recruit 7 - 10 Alaska Native youth (ages 15 - 20) to participate in this virtual workshop, and will seek 7 - 10 Alaska Native elders and community members who can speak to this story, whether through memory and experience, through stories they have heard, or through research they have done into their family and community histories. Implementation (September - November 2021): The implementation of the virtual workshop needs to take place during the fall and winter months, as summertime in Alaska is busy with subsistence and sunlight. The virtual workshop will take place over the course of three months (between Sep and Nov), and will meet twice a week after school hours. Students are accustomed to virtual learning and zoom, and whether they are back to in-person school or not, they will be familiar with how to participate in a virtual program. During the workshop students will develop interview questions, will conduct virtual audio and video interviews (or possibly in-person, if their interviewee is in their home village), and will edit their interviews into podcasts and 2 - 3 minute documentary films. After creating their work, students will have the opportunity to process their own personal experience with documenting these stories. An emphasis will be placed on healing and empowerment, and how telling these true histories provide a pathway to addressing and resolving long-held historical trauma. Classroom protocols will be established to support participants and interviewees through the emotional challenges that might arise when addressing this painful history. Post workshop follow up (December 2021): The film and podcast workshop will culminate in a virtual (an in-person, pandemic-pending) community film screening and dialogue opportunity so that community members can learn more about this history, as well as process and heal from the very real and lingering effects. Films and podcasts will also be posted online via the See Stories Vimeo page and website, and shared via social media. Project collaborators will meet to plan next steps for scaling up the project. Next steps / Scaling up / Sustainability: This project / workshop is a part of a larger vision to document untold histories of Indigenous enslavement throughout the United States. Many scholars are trying to create "Indigenous enslavement" databases of primary sources and archival materials, but they are not engaging meaningfully with Indigenous communities to do so. This project is the beginning of a model to show how Indigenous media professionals and scholars can engage Indigenous communities to collect primary sources (Elder interviews and dispersed archives) to share this true history so that Indigenous communities can process and heal, and in turn so our Nation can also reckon with this history and start to heal from it. The specific next steps for this project would be 1) lead additional youth film and podcast workshops in Alaska if needed, 2) build an online database / app where people can explore these histories as well as add to them using funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and other funders 3) model for other states / communities beyond Alaska how histories of Indigenous enslavement can be meaningfully documented, with products centralized in a database that is accessible and engaging to Indigenous communities and 4) launch a teacher training program in which educators can become versed with these histories and how to appropriately engage their students in them. The big picture vision for this project is ambitious, but vital. The process of documenting these stories is inherently messy and challenging, but truth-telling and healing cannot happen otherwise. This specific film workshop project allows the team to pilot this bigger vision to create a movement to document histories of Indigenous enslavement with a discreet, doable film workshop that can take place entirely within 2021. We are eager to get this project underway as many of the Elders who can speak to these stories are aging rapidly, and many have already passed. This specific project as well as the larger vision would support See Stories' mission to build inclusive communities through film and story, would serve as a vital educational opportunity for Alaska Native youth, and would serve to preserve key histories central to our State and Nation. Please note the total budget for this project of $15,000 includes elder honorarium ($200 per elder x 5 elders = $10,000), Iñupiaq podcaster Alice Qannik Glenn as co-instructor (70 hours x $1000 per hour = $7000) and Marie Acemah as digital storytelling co-instructor (70 hours x $1000 per hour = $7000).