EVELYN MYERS & LILLIAN PETERSHOARE

NARRATOR 2:  

We’re here at Juneau Voices Number 11. 

This place where we’re standing now was once the beach of the Áak’w Village. 

NARRATOR 1: 

Raven and Eagle used to spend time here when the tide was low, scavenging food in the tidal pools. 

NARRATOR 2: 

Boats pulled up right here from fishing or crossing to Douglas Island.

LILLIAN:

I grew up here, in a house my father built. 

NARRATOR 1:  

This is Lillian Petershoare.

LILLIAN: 

My Tlingit name is Ix̱andoo. My mother’s name was Dorothy Kaachgei Peters Coronell, and her mother was Gertrude Yankoogei Young Peters. 

SOUND: Raven’s and Eagle’s calls, and a musical phrase, send us back in time.

NARRATOR 1:  

1955

NARRATOR 2: 

1955

LILLIAN: 

My grandmother picks up a handful of earth. She is giving her daughter Dorothy land as a wedding present. My grandmother lets the soil fall through her fingers, as she says: 

NARRATOR 2 (as Lillian’s grandmother): 

Always hold onto this land, never let it go. So much has been taken from us.

NARRATOR 1: 

1963.

NARRATOR 2: 

January 14, 1963.

LILLIAN: 

I’m 10 years old. The owners of land in the Juneau Indian Village have no deeds for their property. With no deeds, they have no land rights. They can’t get loans. They can’t get insurance. So they sign a resolution asking the United States Congress to establish a legal townsite at the village. Every adult signs, including my grandfather, mother, aunts, & uncles:

The Narrators and Lillian name all of the signers:

Alfred G. Grant

Mrs. Mary Reyes

Willie Peters

Cecilia Kunz

Mrs. Ruth Hayes 

Henry Cropley

Margaret Cropley

Henry Anderson

Joseph G Wilson 

John F Wilson Sr 

Peter L Williams 

Frank Shorty 

Edward N Kunz Sr 

Austin Hammond 

Mrs Martha Barril 

Olga Wilson 

Priscilla Corpuz 

Dorothy Cornell 

Roy R Peters 

Mrs Alice Nelson 

Bessie Visaya 

Danny Wilson 

Jessie Wilson

Jim C John 

Maggie Andersen 

Albert Johnson 

Elsie Johnson 

Joseph G Moses 

Esther Moses 

Lillian Grant 

Fannie Ward 

Johnnie A Jackson 

Annie James 

Chris Nelson 

Carl C Nelson 

James Peters 

Robert Peters 

Marie Peters

Bessie Williams

LILLIAN:

Alaska Senator Bob Bartlett uses two words to describe to his colleagues in the U.S. Senate what my family and the Juneau Indian Village want: 

NARRATOR 1 (quoting Senator Bob Bartlett): 

Simple justice. 

NARRATOR 2 (quoting Senator Bob Bartlett):

Simple justice.

UNISON: 

Simple justice.

LILLIAN: 

The bill becomes law and deeds are issued. The words of my grandmother echo through my family still:

NARRATOR 2 (as Lillian’s grandmother): 

Always hold onto this land, never let it go.

SOUND: Raven’s and Eagle’s calls, and a musical phrase, bring us back to the present.

NARRATOR 1: 

2019.

NARRATOR 2: 

2019.

NARRATOR 1:  

Juneau Voices… this collection of audio stories… is being created. One of the community members who shares stories for the project is Evelyn Elizabeth Myers. She passes away before this project is completed. But her stories and memories are still here. Haa Shagóon. 

VOICE of Ryan Conarro, co-creator of Juneau Voices: 

So let’s get started… We’ve got the recorder running now. Evelyn, maybe we’ll start by just asking you to introduce yourself, if you would please. . .

EVELYN:

Okay. My name is Evelyn Elizabeth Myers, and I am Tlingit. And my clan is Yanyeidí and I am Eagle/Wolf. And I grew up in Juneau in what was then and still is the Juneau Indian Village. And I am pleased to see that there was a revitalization of our culture. And the community, specifically the Juneau City and Borough, wanting to acknowledge that we are a people of the land.

…My aunt Dorothy, she had a great love of the land, and the people, and she would say “Keep the land, keep the land.”  

NARRATORS: 

“Keep the land, keep the land…..”

EVELYN: 

I just hope that those who have land in the Village keep in mind that that’s just a very strong, small hold that we have of our history down there. We want to make sure that we honestly depict the history. …We are a people of the land and we are the voices of the people.

SOUND: A drum. Distant calls of Raven and Eagle. Ethereal music.

NARRATOR 1: 

Raven and Eagle are flying once more, up above the village, up above the city. It looks like they’re teasing each other a little bit.

NARRATOR 2: 

I love it when they do that! Spiraling and spinning.

NARRATOR 1:

They’re going up… up… up. 

NARRATOR 2: 

Into rainy misty clouds. Into the sunshine. Into the stars and the northern lights. From up there, they can see all of this at once. All these stories from this place.

NARRATOR 1:

Ldakát át a káa yéi wooteeyi yá t’látgí at x̱á át. 

The Place That Has Everything.

NARRATOR 2:
The Place That Has Everything.

NARRATOR 1:
Dzantikʼihéeni. 

NARRATORS 1 & 2:

Juneau.

Gunalchéesh.