History
Organized Village of Kasaan (OVK) is a federally recognized Tribe that was established in 1934 to promote the protection, preservation and education of its village and members. For hundreds of years before federal recognition, the Haida people of Kasaan lived in this pristine setting on Prince of Wales Island in southern Southeast Alaska. Kasaan is the oldest Haida village in existence, and one of only two Haida communities that remain intact in Alaska.
Though the Village of Kasaan is not its original location and it has been recently chartered and, it existence dates pre-1880. Old Kasaan was situated on Skowl Arm, Prince of Wales Island. Chief Skowl was a firm defender of the Native Customs. At the end of the nineteenth century, Kasaan had seventeen lodges and sixty of the finest poles in Alaska, and was a favorite stop for summer tourists during the 1890. It was set aside as a U.S. National Monument in 1907, and so proclaimed in 1916.
Kasaan lies near the edge of traditional Haida territory, which borders traditional Tlingit territory on Prince of Wales Island. The name Kasaan comes from the Tlingit language, meaning “Beautiful Land”. While the community did relocate, as all Haida communities did during the early twentieth century, it is the only community to keep its original name. These village relocations were the combined result of massive population loss to disease and famine, and the onset of western governmental philosophies that sought to assimilate North American indigenous peoples through boarding schools and highly motivated religious organizations. The impact of these were magnified by the simultaneous loss of land, and the rights to hunt, fish, and gather as the Haida had for countless generations.
The Haida are a North American indigenous group living on the Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands of British Columbia) and Prince of Wales Island, southeast Alaska. The Haida originated on Haida Gwaii, and later migrated north to establish villages on Prince of Wales. This is evident in the Haida language for there are dialect differences between Haida Gwaii and Prince of Wales Haida. While the culture is strong with traditional songs, artwork, regalia, histories, and legends, the language itself is extremely endangered with only eight known speakers living in Alaska, the youngest of which is 71.
Traditional Haida society is organized by interconnected matriarchal clans. Prior to modern housing, villages were composed of house groups, which were governed by a hereditary leader of one clan. The clans within a village collectively governed the people and their traditional lands. While the histories and importance of clans is still understood, their impact is not what it once was as modern governmental methods have replaced the traditional outside of ceremonies and cultural gatherings. There are two primary clan groups, Raven and Eagle, and the society is based upon relationship between the two; the most important of which is one group always marries the opposite, never from the same side.
The most prominent of traditional ceremonies is the potlatch, where clan relationships are traditionally defined through hosting, gift giving, entertainment, and feasting. One clan group hosts the opposite, and through the potlatch debts are repaid, bonds between clans strengthened, names given, and traditional clan information is shared. Clans own designs, crests, stories, names, structures, and more; and the stories behind these items is often shared through story, song, and dance.
Expert fishermen and seafarers, the Haida depend heavily on halibut, black cod, sea mammals, mollusks, and other sea species in addition to their freshwater salmon catches. There are also bounties upon the land, namely deer, berries, and medicinal plants that serve as an important part of modern and traditional Haida lifestyles. The Haida are best known for the abundant red cedars that were used to make huge dugout canoes, multifamily plank houses, numerous masterfully carved totem poles, and carved boxes and dishes.
In the early 19th century the aboriginal Haida population was about 8,000 on the Queen Charlotte Islands and 1,800 in Alaska; in the 1890s they numbered fewer than 1,500 as the result of disease introduced through Western contact. During this appalling population decline, Queen Charlotte Islands survivors left their original villages to form new settlements, of which two remain, Masset and Skidegate. Alaskan Haida had five original villages, which have since merged and/or moved to Hydaburg (1911) and Kasaan. In the mid-1980s the total Haida population was about 2,000.