John Fredson facts for kids
John Fredson (born 1896, as Neetsaii Gwich'in - August 22, 1945) was an important leader for the Gwich'in people in Alaska. He is best known for helping to create the Venetie Indian Reserve in 1941. At that time, it was the largest land set aside for Native people in Alaska, covering about 1.4 million acres (5,700 km2). This happened before Alaska became a state.
When he was young, Fredson joined an expedition to climb Denali, the tallest mountain in North America. He managed their base camp. Later, he went to college and became the first Alaska Native person to graduate from a university. After college, Fredson returned to Alaska. He worked in a hospital and as a teacher, becoming a strong leader and activist for his community.
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Early Life and Learning
John Fredson was born in 1896 near Table Mountain in what is now the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska. His family was Gwich'in, and he grew up speaking the Gwich'in language first. He became an orphan at a young age. John then went to a mission school run by the Episcopal Church. There, he learned to speak English. From a young age, he was very good at following trails, climbing, and hunting.
Climbing Denali
When he was 16, Fredson was part of a climbing trip in 1913. This trip was led by Hudson Stuck, an Episcopal Archdeacon. Their team successfully climbed Denali, which is the highest mountain in North America. Fredson was in charge of the base camp. His important role is written about in Stuck's book, Ascent of Denali. Fredson stayed at base camp by himself for 31 days. He hunted caribou and Dall sheep while waiting for the climbing team to return. He even saved his sugar for them!
College Education
With encouragement from Hudson Stuck, Fredson continued his education. He became the first person of Athabascan descent to finish high school. He then attended Sewanee, The University of the South, which is a college in Middle Tennessee. John Fredson was the first Alaska Native person to graduate from a university.
While at college, Fredson worked with Edward Sapir, a famous linguist. Fredson helped to sort out the Gwich'in language within the Na-Dene language family. This work is recorded in a book called John Fredson Edward Sapir Ha'a Googwandak (1982). This book shares stories that Fredson told to Sapir. Fredson's ideas about Gwich'in ways of thinking about space and time might have even influenced Sapir's later work on the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis.
Life's Important Work
After returning to Alaska, Fredson worked at a hospital in Fort Yukon. In his later years, Fredson built a special sunroom, called a solarium, for patients with tuberculosis at the hospital. This hospital was the only one in the far north at the time. It was often very busy with Alaska Native patients, especially Gwich’in people. They needed treatment for diseases from other parts of the world, like infections, because they did not have immunity to them.
Fredson also taught school in the village of Venetie. He taught the community how to grow their own gardens. He was helped by Chief Johnny Frank, who was a well-known medicine man and storyteller among the Gwich'in. The chief's adventures are told in the book Neerihiinjik: We Traveled From Place to Place (2012).
Protecting Land Rights
John Fredson became a tribal leader. He worked hard to help his people get their rights back to their traditional lands. He was the main person who helped create the Venetie Indian Reserve. This was the largest reservation in Alaska. It was officially recognized by the government in 1941, before Alaska became a state. When it was created, the Reserve was about 1.4 million acres (5,700 km2) of land.
Family Life
John married Jean Ribaloff, whom he met at the hospital in Fort Yukon. They had three children: William Burke Fredson, Virginia Fredson (Dows), and Lula Fredson (Young). John Fredson died from pneumonia on August 22, 1945, when he was about 49 years old.
