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Alaska Natives picked up arms, forming citizen militias to guard against a possible foreign invasion. That is among the many Native contributions to the war. As the nation takes time to remember the bombing of Pearl Harbor, we’ll honor some of the contributions by Native Americans and Alaska Natives to World War II. We’ll talk with a descendant of a Navajo Code Talker, a Cherokee Nation veteran, and we’ll learn more about the Alaska Territorial Guard.
Guests:
Dr. Laura Tohe (Diné) – professor of Indigenous American Literature at Arizona State University and writer
Joe Crittenden (Cherokee Nation) – Deputy Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation
Nelson Angapak (Yup’ik) – special assistant to the president of the Alaska Federation of Natives in native allotments
Dr. Herman Viola – curator emeritus for the Smithsonian Institution
Break Music: World War II Veteran’s Song (song) Porcupine Singers (artist) Alowanpi – Songs Of Honoring – Lakota Classics: Past & Present, Vol. 1 (album)
