Ada Blackjack facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Ada Blackjack
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Ada Blackjack, c. 1920
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| Born |
Ada Delutuk
May 10, 1898 |
| Died | May 29, 1983 (aged 85) |
| Nationality | Iñupiat |
Ada Blackjack (born Ada Delutuk; May 10, 1898 – May 29, 1983) was an Iñupiat woman from Alaska. She became famous for surviving two years alone on a faraway island. This island, called Wrangel Island, is north of Siberia. Ada was left there by accident, like a castaway (someone stranded in a lonely place).
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Ada's Early Life
Ada Blackjack Johnson was born in a small village called Spruce Creek in Solomon, Alaska. When she was eight, her father died. Her mother sent Ada and her sister, Rita, to a Methodist mission school in Nome, Alaska. There, missionaries taught her to read English and to sew very well.
At 16, Ada married Jack Blackjack. They moved to the Seward Peninsula and had three children. Sadly, only one son, Bennet, lived past infancy. Jack was not kind to Ada and eventually left her and Bennet. Ada decided to end her marriage. She walked forty miles with Bennet to Nome, where her mother lived.
Ada worked hard, cleaning houses and sewing clothes for miners. But she still could not earn enough money for Bennet's medicine. Bennet had tuberculosis, a serious lung illness. So, she had to place him temporarily in the Jesse Lee Home for Children. This home could give him the special care he needed. Ada was determined to earn money to bring her son home.
Joining an Arctic Adventure
The police chief in Nome, E.R. Jordan, knew about Ada's difficult situation. He told her about a group of men who were looking for Inuit people to join an Arctic expedition. They planned to travel across the Chukchi Sea to Wrangel Island.
The chief did not know exactly what the trip was for. But he thought Ada would be a good fit. She spoke English and was an excellent seamstress. The team needed someone to sew warm fur clothes for them.
This expedition was led by a Canadian explorer named Allan Crawford. But it was planned and paid for by Vilhjalmur Stefansson. Stefansson stayed behind to raise money for another trip. He believed the Arctic was easy to live in if people adapted.
The Journey to Wrangel Island
Stefansson sent five people to Wrangel Island. Their goal was to claim the island for Canada or the United Kingdom. The group included one Canadian, three Americans, and Ada Blackjack, who was Iñupiat. Stefansson chose these explorers carefully. He picked them for their past experience and knowledge in geography and other sciences.
On September 15, 1921, the team was left on Wrangel Island. Ada had doubts about joining the trip. She had been told that many other Alaska Native people would be part of the crew. But she was the only one.
The team had five members:
- Ada Blackjack, who was hired as a cook and seamstress.
- Three American men: Lorne Knight, Milton Galle, and Fred Maurer.
- Allan Crawford, the leader.
One of the men, Fred Maurer, had been on the island before. He had survived a shipwreck there in 1914.
Surviving Alone
At first, conditions on the island were okay. But after a year, things got much worse. Their food supplies ran out. The team could not hunt enough animals on the island to survive.
On January 28, 1923, three of the men tried to get help. They attempted to cross the 90-mile frozen Chukchi Sea to Siberia. They hoped to find food and rescue. They left Ada and Lorne Knight behind. Knight was very sick with scurvy, an illness caused by not having enough vitamins. Ada took care of him until he died on June 23, 1923.
The other three men were never seen again. So, Ada Blackjack was left completely alone. Her only companion was the expedition's cat, Victoria. Ada survived in the extremely cold conditions for nearly eight months. She was finally rescued on August 19, 1923. Her rescuer was Harold Noice, who had worked with Stefansson before. Some newspapers called her the real "female Robinson Crusoe" because of her amazing survival story.
Life After the Expedition
Ada used the money she earned to take her son, Bennet, to Seattle, Washington. There, he could get treatment for his tuberculosis. Later, Ada remarried and had another son, Billy. Eventually, she moved back to the Arctic. She lived there until she was 85 years old.
Ada was a quiet person. She did not like the attention from newspapers and media. She also disliked how Stefansson and her rescuer, Noice, tried to use her story for their own gain. Ada did not get rich from her difficult experience. She only received her expedition salary and a small amount of money from furs she trapped. She got no payment from the books written about her.
Ada Blackjack passed away in a retirement home in Palmer, Alaska. She was buried in Anchorage.
See also
In Spanish: Ada Blackjack para niños
