Students portray Tlingit story of respect for women

Raven learned the hard way that you don't mess with women.

High school and middle school students performed a shadowbox play of "Koodigwási Shaawát (Fogwoman)" on March 8 in honor of Women's History Month and Elizabeth Peratrovich Day, illustrating stories of strength and resolve. By the end of the play, the character Raven was alone and hungry due to the treatment of the woman he loved.

"The moral of the story was, don't hit your wife," said Xwaanlein, Virginia Oliver, Tlingit language teacher at Wrangell schools, who organized the play. "(Fogwoman) left and she never came back. There was no reconcile there."

Fogwoman tells the story of the trickster Raven who meets a woman who seems to appear from the fog. He falls in love with her, asks her to marry him and she agrees. They settle down at the head of Anan Creek. Raven becomes restless because he's not used to being in one place with one person for very long. Even though Fogwoman treats him well - even introducing him to salmon - he wasn't very kind to her.

"Some days he would ignore her, other days he would abuse her," read Clara Edens, who narrated the play. "She could do nothing to please him. One day, in a fit of irritability, he hit her with the backbone of a salmon he had just cleaned."

With that, Fogwoman disappeared into the mist and Raven never saw her again. The salmon disappeared as well, only returning once a year.

As Edens narrated, high school and middle school students silently enacted the scenes from the story in front of a bright light and behind a large white sheet. The audience watched as their shadows illustrated the tale, which has been handed down through the generations. Between each scene, students would softly beat drums and sing a paddle song in Tlingit.

Oliver said the story was given to her by tribal elders and she honors them by playing it for others. "(Luella Knapp) and I made a pact that we would always work toward the betterment of history, children and the Native culture."

Along with the shadowbox play, students and staff honored Elizabeth Peratrovich by recounting her story and announcing the winners of the poster contest held for Elizabeth Peratrovich Day last month.

The Legislature in 1988 designated Feb. 16 as Elizabeth Peratrovich Day to honor the Native rights activist whose testimony helped win legislative approval of Alaska's Anti-Discrimination Act in 1945.

Out of 17 contest entries, six winners were chosen - three from the high school and three from the middle school. Mia Wiederspohn won first place at the high school level, Kyan Stead won second, and Della Churchill won third. At the middle school level, Katelyn Gillen won first, Sophia Martinsen won second, and Paige Hoyt won third.

First place was awarded a $75 gift card, second place was awarded a $50 gift card, and third was awarded a $25 gift card. Funds for the prizes came from the Wrangell Cooperative Association through the Indian Education Program.

Though Peratrovich's fight for Native people's rights is well known, it needs to be shared again and again, Oliver said.

"You have to keep telling it," she said. "It always amazes me when I talk to elementary students each year, I ask, 'Does anybody know who Elizabeth Peratrovich is?' 'No.' And they love to hear it."

Oliver has made it her goal to keep educating students and others on the history of Alaska.

"As long as I'm here, I'll keep teaching, and hopefully, the kids I teach will teach," Oliver said. "That's what our elders taught us: You just keep teaching, and you'll sleep when you're done."