#ada blackjack

[goddisposez]

tuffest picture to come out of terror camp btw. all tongues that rise against ada blackjack shall fall

[degenezijde]

Ada

In 1921, Ada Blackjack joins an expedition to the rugged Wrangel Island in the Arctic Ocean. The young Inuk is not an explorer, but a desperate mother hoping to use the reward to save her sick son. What should have been a glorious undertaking to claim the island for the British Crown soon degenerates into a bitter battle against the elements. When the promised supply ship fails to arrive and the expedition members threaten to succumb one by one, Ada finds solace only in her cat, and her only fuel is the indomitable will to see her son again.

[jesslovesboats]

I'd like to point out something I was fortunate enough to not see until very recently (special thanks to @evergreensounds for bringing it to my attention):

This is NOT Ada Blackjack, this is AI slop. The "person" in this image looks nothing like Ada, I assume because AI cannot differentiate between different Indigenous groups (if you're looking for a terrifying rabbit hole to go down, look into how quickly AI defaults to racist stereotypes when generating results).

The real Ada was a very petite Iñupiat woman with delicate facial features. She was in her early 20s. She didn't wear her hair like that. Her clothing didn't look like that. Her gun didn't look like that. Vic the cat didn't look like that. This is a total mess of an image, the very sloppiest of slop.

My biggest question is why would anyone bother to generate this image when we have real and incredibly badass photos of Ada that are easily findable with a 2 second Google search?

Anyway, please stop using AI. Ada deserves better, and so do you ❤️

[questcequecestqueca]

In 1921, Ada Blackjack, a young Inuit mother desperate to provide for her ailing son, joined an Arctic expedition as a seamstress. She wasn’t an explorer, nor a hunter—just a woman trying to earn money.

The mission, led by Vilhjalmur Stefansson, sought to claim Wrangel Island for Canada. Ada was the only woman, and the only Inuk among four white male explorers. When supplies ran low, the men set off for help across the ice… and never returned.

Ada was left behind with a dying teammate and a cat named Vic. Soon, it was just her and Vic—alone in subzero wilderness, 700 miles from help.

She taught herself to shoot a rifle. She fended off polar bears with a knife. She sewed her own mittens when her fingers froze. She trapped foxes. Ate seal. And through it all, Vic curled close to keep her warm.

Two years later, rescuers arrived. She was still alive. Thin. Worn. But unbroken. The world nearly forgot her. The men got the headlines.

[ponkothepenguin]

shoutout to the Canadian arctic expediton cats for having a higher survival rate than the men

[just-barrow]

if anyone is looking for a new podcast to listen to I highly recommend what to carry, what to burn by blair braverman. she's been on a few fantastic episodes of you're wrong about to talk about survival stories and now she has her own podcast! the first two episodes are about ada blackjack with sarah marshall as a special guest. beautiful storytelling from someone who is a dogsled racer and adventurer herself :)

[catsofyore]

Amazing photo of Allen Crawford and Vic, the Wrangel Island expedition cat in the 1920s. This expedition was an absolute nightmare. Only Vic and her owner, an extraordinary woman named Ada Blackjack, survived. I strongly encourage you to look up Ada! Source.

[zeehund]

The only perk of being ill is that I get to draw Polar inspired doodles!

1. Ernest Shackleton

2. Winifield Jewell

3. David Brainard

4. Ada Blackjack

5. The get-along shirt from hell