“King Island”
The island was once the winter home to over 200 Iñupiat (Alaskan Natives) who called themselves Aseuluk meaning “people of the sea” or Ukivokmiut (from Ukivok the village of King Island and ‘miut’ meaning “people of”).
In the mid 1900s, the Bureau of Indian Affairs closed the school on King Island and forcefully removed the children of Ukivok to go to school on mainland Alaska, leaving the elders and adults to gather the needed food for winter. Because the children were not on the island to help gather the needed food for winter, the adults and elders had no choice but to move to the mainland to make their living.
By 1970, all King Island natives had moved to mainland Alaska year-round. Even after the movement off the island, some King Islanders still return to gather subsistence foods such as walrus and seal. Although the King Islanders have moved off the island, they have kept a very distinct cultural identity, living a very similar life as they had on the island. In 2005 and 2006, the National Science Foundation funded a research project which brought a few King Island natives back to the island. Some participants had not been back to the island in 50 years. The King Island Community awaits the project’s results.
