8. Juneau Voices: Sorrel Goodwin
Sorrel wants you to notice the William Seward statue at the Alaska Capitol. Now, he wants you to imagine a new statue, celebrating a woman that he says is a truer hero for Juneau.
 |
 |
 |
More about this story
-
Juneau Voices #8 is located at Egan Drive and Main Street.
-
In 1867, U.S. Secretary of State William Seward negotiated the purchase of Alaska from Russia. Many Alaska Natives and their allies maintain that this “sale” was a sham, as was the Russian claim to ownership that preceded it.
-
To spend more time with Sorrel Goodwin, please visit: https://www.aanyatxu.org/sorrel-goodwin
-
The narrators for Juneau Voices are David Katzeek, Kingeisti, an Eagle, and Erin Tripp, Xáalnook, a Raven.
SORREL GOODWIN
NARRATOR 2:
Now we’re here on the corner of Egan Drive and Main Street. This is Juneau Voices Number 8.
NARRATOR 1:
I see Eagle again. Winging up the hill, along Main Street. Follow Eagle with your eyes. Chʼáakʼ.
SOUND: Eagle calls.
NARRATOR 2:
At 4th street Chʼáakʼ loops right in front of that building with the marble columns. You see it? That’s the state Capitol.
NARRATOR 1:
There’s a statue just in front of the capitol.
It’s a man, made of bronze.
NARRATOR 2:
That statue is William Seward.
SORREL GOODWIN:
That statue… is blasphemy.
NARRATOR 1:
This is Sorrel Goodwin.
His story is about two statues:
the statue that is there,
and the statue that Sorrel imagines for the future in Juneau.
SOUND: Eagle’s call and a musical phrase send us back in time.
SORREL:
My name is Sorrel Goodwin. My great-great-grandmother was Mary James.
NARRATOR 2:
Sheep Creek Mary.
SORREL:
Sheep Creek Mary.
NARRATOR 1:
The early 1900s.
NARRATOR 2:
The early 1900s.
NARRATOR 1:
Sheep Creek Mary is the matriarch of the Big Dipper House. But everything around her is changing fast. Outsiders are showing up by the thousands. They’re tearing holes into the mountains and staking claims on the land.
SORREL:
And my great-great-grandmother Sheep Creek Mary sees what she has to do.
SOUND: an office door opens.
NARRATOR 2 (as Sheep Creek Mary):
Hello. My name is Sheep Creek Mary. This is my land here on this map. I want you to write one of your government land titles for me, for this land. Put this land in my name. Yéi awé.
SOUND: the office door closes again.
SORREL:
Large areas of Juneau become the “Sheep Creek Mary Estate.” She shares her land.
But eventually, she loses the colonial game.
SOUND: Aggressive knocking.
NARRATOR 1 (as Gastineau Mine representative):
Mary James? Open the door. We represent the Gastineau Mine.
NARRATOR 2 (as Sheep Creek Mary):
No. Please stop coming here.
NARRATOR 1 (as Gastineau Mine representative):
We want to buy your land.
NARRATOR 2 (as Sheep Creek Mary):
No!
NARRATOR 1 (as Gastineau Mine representative):
You will sell us your land or we will cause you harm.
NARRATOR 2 (as Sheep Creek Mary):
No!
SOUND: A crackling house fire.
SORREL:
One day, my great-great-grandmother’s house burns to the ground.
SORREL:
She sells to the Gastineau Mine.
NARRATOR 1:
2012.
NARRATOR 2:
2012.
SORREL:
I finish my master’s degree in the Lower 48, and I move home to Juneau. The sesquicentennial is coming—the 150th anniversary of the “purchase” of Alaska. Then a friend says to me:
NARRATOR 1 (as Sorrel’s friend):
Hey Sorrel, did you hear about this statue of William Seward?
SORREL:
A statue of William Seward? This statue is offensive! That man used the Doctrine of Discovery to say that this place could be bought and sold, without ever talking to its original owners. Chiefs everywhere in Lingít Aaní objected to the sale. I send a letter to the office of the Governor and the Lieutenant Governor. Other people are saying “no” to the statue, too. …But it’s all too late. Powerful people already have money invested in this.
NARRATOR 1:
2017.
NARRATOR 2:
2017.
SORREL:
The statue is unveiled. There’s a band and there are speeches. And I look away.
NARRATOR 1 (as a speaker at the unveiling):
William Seward was a good man! He was an abolitionist!
NARRATOR 2 (as a speaker at the unveiling):
William Seward did a great thing for all Alaskans!
SORREL:
They put that statue smack dab in the middle of my people’s traditional territory— our sacred Áakʼw Lingít homeland. American imperialism hurts all of us—
NARRATOR 1:
Both the colonized—
NARRATOR 2:
And the colonizer—
SORREL:
And that statue makes me angry.
You know what I’d like to see right there, across from the Seward statue? A statue of Sheep Creek Mary.
SOUND: Ethereal music.
NARRATOR 2:
NARRATOR 1:
2067.
SORREL:
It’s the future. The bicentennial of the “purchase” of Alaska. Or maybe, hopefully, it’s much sooner than that. And the city of Juneau is unveiling a bronze statue of Mary James… Sheep Creek Mary. She takes her rightful place next to all the men in our history books. The statue acknowledges that Juneau is not just the state capital. Long before there was ever a man named Joseph Juneau, this land was our capital—our traditional sacred lands. “The Place That Has Everything.”
SOUND: Eagle’s call and a musical phrase bring us back to the present.
NARRATOR 2:
It’s time to walk again. Here comes Chʼáakʼ. Swooping back down Main Street toward us, and bending around that hill with the bus terminal. We’re going to follow along Egan Drive. We’re walking toward Sign #9, toward the Áak’w Village District. Let’s meet at the corner of Egan and Whittier Avenue.
