Rosita Worl facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Rosita Kaaháni Worl
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Sealaska Heritage Institute President and anthropologist Rosita Worl speaks at a Native Issues Forum in Juneau, Alaska, Feb. 22, 2012.
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| Born | April 29, 1937 |
| Alma mater | Alaska Methodist University Harvard University |
Rosita Kaaháni Worl is an important Tlingit American leader. She is an anthropologist, which means she studies human societies and cultures. She is also a strong voice for Alaska Native culture, business, and politics.
Since 1997, Rosita Worl has been the president of the Sealaska Heritage Institute. This is a special group in Juneau, Alaska. It works to keep the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian Native cultures of Southeast Alaska alive and strong. She also served for 30 years on the board of directors for the Sealaska Corporation. This large Native corporation has over 22,000 shareholders (people who own a part of it). Sealaska Corporation started the heritage institute and gives it a lot of money to help its work.
Rosita Worl has two Tlingit names: Yeidiklasókw and Kaaháni. She belongs to the Ch’áak’ (Eagle) side of the Shangukeidí (Thunderbird) Clan. Her family house is called Kawdliyaayi Hít (House Lowered from the Sun) in Klukwan. She is also a citizen of the Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska.
Contents
Rosita Worl's Career
Teaching and Research
Rosita Worl has taught anthropology at the University of Alaska campuses in Juneau and Anchorage. She has written many papers about how Native people live off the land (called subsistence). She also writes about issues important to Native women, Native laws, and the history and culture of Southeast Alaska Natives.
She worked with the Smithsonian Institution, a famous museum and research center. She was one of four editors for a book called "Living Our Cultures, Sharing Our Heritage: The First Peoples of Alaska." This book, published in 2010, shows more than 200 amazing art pieces from 20 different Alaska Native groups.
Protecting Native Heritage
From 2000 to 2013, Rosita Worl was part of the National Review Committee for the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). She even led this committee for some time. NAGPRA is a law that helps return Native American remains and artifacts from museums to their original tribes. The committee helps make sure this process works well and solves any disagreements.
In 2005, she gave a presentation about NAGPRA called "Integrating Science & Stories: Tlingit Ancient History." This talk was about how scientists and tribal leaders worked together. They studied the discovery of 10,000-year-old human remains in Southeast Alaska. They looked at how early people might have moved along the coast and used genetic studies to learn about their origins.
Earlier in her career, Rosita Worl also studied the Inupiat people in the Arctic. She looked at how oil development offshore affected their way of life. She also studied traditional whaling and advised the U.S. Department of State on whaling issues.
Media and Government Work
In 1982, Rosita Worl and her children started a monthly magazine called Alaska Native News. It shared in-depth stories about Alaska Native businesses, art, culture, and other important topics. The magazine ran until 1985.
In the mid-1980s, she advised Alaska Governor Steve Cowper on Alaska Native and Rural Affairs. She helped create the first official policy for Alaska Natives in the state. She also looked at changes to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. This act created Native corporations. Rosita Worl worked to make sure these corporations would be protected and not taken over by non-Native groups.
She also served on President Bill Clinton's Northwest Sustainability Commission. She has been a member of many other important groups, including the Alaska Federation of Natives, the Indigenous Languages Institute, and the National Museum of the American Indian.
Advocating for Traditional Ways
Rosita Worl led the subsistence committee for the Alaska Federation of Natives. Subsistence means gathering food like hunting, fishing, and collecting plants. In 2013, she spoke to the U.S. Senate about how important these traditional ways of getting food are to Alaska Natives. She explained that Native people get about half of their food from these activities. She also pointed out that government rules sometimes made it hard for Alaska Natives to feed their families in traditional ways.
Sealaska Heritage Institute Today
In recent years, Rosita Worl has led the Sealaska Heritage Institute in exciting new directions. In 2015, the institute opened its new main building in Juneau, called the Walter Soboleff Building. This building has modern and traditional Native art, a museum, a place for performances and talks, and classrooms.
In 2020, the institute started building a new cultural arts complex right across the street. This new center will have classes and live demonstrations of traditional Southeast Alaska Native arts. It will also display large works of Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian art. College-level classes will be offered there with the University of Alaska Southeast and the Institute of American Indian Arts.
Early Life and Education
Childhood Experiences
Rosita Worl was born in 1938 in a small cabin on a beach near Petersburg, Alaska. She was raised by her grandmother, aunt, and mother. When she was six years old, she was taken from her home and sent to Haines House. This was a Presbyterian mission school in Haines. There, she and other Alaska Native children were taught English and the Christian religion.
Because she was forced to leave her home, her grandparents, John and Jennie Thlunaut, had to "rent" her from the missionaries to spend time with her. Her aunt, Agnes Bellinger, even went to work at Haines House to watch over her. Rosita stayed there for three years. Then, her mother, Bessie Quinto, was able to bring her home to live with her 12 brothers and sisters.
Her mother taught her that she had a duty to help the Native community. This included working with groups like the Alaska Native Sisterhood. When Rosita was just 10, she traveled with her mother as she helped organize workers at salmon canneries. Rosita had to take notes during the meetings. As a teenager, she even fished for a living with her uncle, which was unusual for girls her age back then.
School and College
Rosita Worl went to high school in Petersburg. After graduating, she helped run a program that encouraged Alaska Natives to go to college. She decided to recruit herself and started college by taking one class at a time.
In the 1970s, she studied at Alaska Methodist University in Anchorage. She learned from famous professors like Richard Dauenhauer and earned her bachelor's degree. She then went on to earn both a master's degree and a Ph.D. in anthropology from Harvard University. In 2012, the University of Alaska Anchorage gave her an honorary Doctor of Sciences degree, which is a special award for her achievements.
Honors and Awards
Rosita Worl has received many awards for her important work. Some of these include:
- Ford Foundation Fellowship (1972-1977)
- Gloria Steinem Award for Empowerment (1989)
- Women of Hope (1997)
- Outstanding Contribution, Alaska Native Heritage Center (2000)
- Human Rights Award, Cultural Survival (2002)
- Women of Courage Award NWPC (2003)
- Native People Award Enhancing the Native Alaskan Community, Wells Fargo (2004)
- National Museum of the American Indian Smithsonian Institution Honor (2006)
- Distinguished Service to the Humanities Award (2008)
- Governor's Award for the Arts & Humanities (2008)
- Solon T. Kimball Award for Public and Applied Anthropology, American Anthropological Association (2008)
- Lifetime Achievement Award, Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska (2011)
- Alaska Federation of Natives Citizen of the Year Award (2011)
Family
Rosita Worl has three children: Celeste, Rod, and Ricardo Worl. She also has six grandchildren: Rico, Crystal, Kyle, Miranda, Ricky, and Sage.
