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

When the U.S. acquired Alaska from Russia in 1867, it took control of the Pribilof Islands, which housed a commercial fur-seal operation and the Unangax people. The Unangax were required to harvest seals under U.S. government supervision as designated "wards of the state." The Unangax remained under federal administrative control until 1983, when Congress transferred local governance of the Pribilof Islands to the Unangax people.

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