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9th grade · Social Studies · Unit 8 of 9

Land, Statehood & ANCSA

The purchase, the statehood movement and land claims

What your child practices

The 1867 purchase from different perspectives, the territory years and the statehood movement, Native land claims, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 and the corporations it created, and ANILCA. Debates are presented as different views, factually and without taking sides.

Alaska content standards learning standard: SS.AKH.2.17.1; SS.AKH.2.8.1; SS.9-12.9.6; SS.AKH.5.23.1 · perspectives on the purchase of Alaska, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act and its effects on Tribes and governance, and the statehood movement

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. The US bought Alaska from Russia in 1867. Many Alaskans wanted statehood for a vote in Congress and control of resources; Bob Bartlett worked for it.
  2. When statehood land selections began, Alaska Native leaders filed land claims.
  3. Oil at Prudhoe Bay made settling claims urgent. ANCSA (1971) gave about 44 million acres and created regional and village corporations.

Example: Why did finding oil at Prudhoe Bay make land claims urgent? Oil needed a pipeline across the land. Who owned the land had to be settled first. Answer: A pipeline could not be built until land ownership was settled

Land, Statehood & ANCSA in Alaska

In the Alaska content standards, this is unit 8 of 9 in 9th grade Social Studies, after The Alaska Constitution and before Oil, Fish & the Permanent Fund.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Alaska Department of Education and Early Development

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Why did many Alaskans want statehood?

    • to become part of Canada
    • to leave the United States
    • to have a vote in Congress and control their own resources

  2. Question 2

    Why did finding oil at Prudhoe Bay make land claims urgent?

    • a pipeline could not be built until land ownership was settled
    • oil made claims unnecessary
    • the oil belonged to Russia

  3. Question 3

    What did ANCSA end in exchange for land and money?

    • all hunting
    • aboriginal land claims in Alaska
    • Alaska's statehood

  4. Question 4

    ANCSA set up which kind of organization to hold land and money?

    • Native corporations
    • state parks
    • Indian reservations

  5. Question 5

    Alaska became the 49th state in…

    • 1959
    • 1912
    • 1971

  6. Question 6

    ANCSA corporations today run businesses in…

    • nothing at all
    • construction, energy, services and more across the US
    • only fishing in one village

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