Atop an elevated step ladder Vicki Soboleff painted an orange line across a street sign that read “Seward Street.” A City and Borough of Juneau public works employee was the next and, in the midst of many on the ground, switched the sign for one that reads “Heritage Way.”
On Wednesday the 13th of Juneau, one of the city’s central streets was given a new name. Sealaska Heritage Institute President Kaahani Rosita Worl suggested the change in April.
The span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”Today We celebrate the eradication of this stain in our collective history,” Worl said at the ceremony of renaming. “And we rejoice in reclaiming our heritage with a new street name: Heritage Way .”
Heritage Way runs between Front Street and Marine Way, and until this week, it was known as South Seward Street. City Hall, SHI’s Walter Soboleff building, as well as the recently acquired SHI building that lies between them is the sole address to be altered.
“span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”If we have to continue to pay for our entrance into this mining district that is so historic for small tasks like this, we’ll keep doing so,” said Sealaska Board Director Joe Nelson.
The Deputy City Manager Michelle Hale spoke on behalf of the city.
Its style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”I am ecstatic to rectify a tiny mistake and name this section of the street Heritage Way,” Hale declared.
She noted that she’s witnessed the positive impact Sealaska Heritage Institute has had in reviving Southeast Alaska Native culture.
It was the Juneau Assembly unanimously agreed to accept the changes in May. Worl expressed gratitude to Juneau for the assistance.
span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”We wouldn’t be able to complete the many projects we’ve accomplished, like our campus for arts, the Walter Soboleff Building, or The Totem Pole Trail without the backing from the City,” Worl said.
Seward Street’s creator, William Seward, was the secretary of state at the time that Seward was secretary of state when the U.S. bought unceded Alaska Native land from Russia. Worl claimed that Seward used to refer to Indigenous indigenous peoples to be “uncivilized” or “savages.”
The style=”font-weight: 400″ style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”In striking contrast to his vision of Alaska as a place with great beauty and wealth Worl considered Alaska Natives were not merely the owners of the land rather as workers who supported their colonization efforts in Alaska,” Worl said. “We’ve progressed a lot into the present, and now people are united in celebrating our cultural heritage .”
The ceremony was also a way to mark the dedication to a bronze mask created by Metlakatla artist John Hudson. Hudson’s “Capturer of Souls” mask is now located in the corner of the Sealaska arts campus, in the plaza’s center.
Hudson claimed that the mask was named after the shamans who brought the souls of those who lost them.
span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”I think, in a metaphorical sense, it is the work that Sealaska has been doing with this stunning structure,” he said. “The streets name changes, and each of the poles are getting a piece of our hearts returned for us.”
Hudson stated that the proudness of having the same piece of carving his father created in his father’s Sealaska structure.
