Fifty Miles from Tomorrow: A Memoir of Alaska and the Real People » (First Edition)

William L. Iggiagruk Hensley was a founder of the Northwest Alaska Native Association and spent twenty years working for its successor, the Iñuit-owned NANA Regional Corporation. He also helped establish the Alaska Federation of Natives in 1966 and has served as its director, executive director, president, and cochair. He spent ten years in the Alaska state legislature as a representative and senator, and recently retired from his position in Washington, D.C., as manager of federal government relations for Alyeska Pipeline Service Company.

Hensley and his wife, Abigale, live in Anchorage, where—now an Iñupiat elder—he is the chair of the First Alaskans Institute.

An alternately charming and harrowing account of over 50 years of one remarkable native Alaskan’s life – from living off the land north of the Arctic Circle, to the Alaskan senate, Hensely is a huge hero to his community.

The Barnes & Noble Review

When someone says "Alaska," can you picture Sarah Palin's smile more readily than the faces of Eskimos? If so, you may have helped former Alaska state legislator William Hensley make a recurring point in his memoir Fifty Miles from Tomorrow: Alaska's Native Americans have faded from the national consciousness -- and receded from their own cultural roots
-- after generations of government and missionary control. Hensley, the son of an Inupiat mother and a Lithuanian father, grew up during the 1940s in northwestern Alaska, where temperatures could hit -40° F and survival was the chief goal. At 15, he left his hometown of Kotzebue -- and the embrace of his great-uncle's family -- to be educated in the Lower 48. A sojourn at a Baptist academy in Tennessee led him both to graduate school and the civil rights movement, laying the foundation for what would become a lifelong mission to champion native Alaskan territorial rights. As a state legislator Hensley lobbied tirelessly to keep his people from being "homeless in our homeland" and helped fuel a landmark act that, in 1971, allocated nearly $1 billion and 44 million acres to indigenous peoples. What makes Hensley's tale compelling, however, is that it isn't just about regaining lands but about regaining voice. Despite a tendency toward repetition, the closing chapters are among the most enlightening of the lot, as Hensley moves past blame and calls for a deeper kind of homecoming -- the reinstatement of once-dismissed Inupiat values and culture. Does this frank memoir paint a sobering but hopeful portrait of Alaska's original identity? You betcha. --Pearl Chen

Maps viii

Iñupiaq Writing and Pronunciation xi

Prologue 3

1 I Become Conscious Qauġriruna 11

2 My Family I&ldot;atka 18

3 At Camp Ikkattuq 27

4 I'm Scared! Aachikkaŋ! 40

5 Toothache Kigutinŋu 49

6 We Play Qitiktuaqtugut 57

7 The North Star Umiaqpak 65

8 We Go to School Aglagiaqtugut 70

9 The Helper Ikayuqti 80

10 I Go Outside Ausaaqtuŋa 85

11 Shifting Gears Aksraktautit 98

12 Hold On to the Land! Nunavut Tigummiuŋ! 107

13 Claim It! Tigulugu! 117

14 The Militant Arguaŋaruaq 123

15 Working Hard in Juneau Sakuuktuŋa 130

16 Battling with the Great White Father Aŋuyaktugut 135

17 We Have Light! Naniqaqtugut! 146

18 As One Atautchikuaq 154

19 My Companion Tuvaaqatiga 161

20 We Become Businessmen Manignit Aŋalatchirugut 169

21 The End of the Mountains Iġġich Isuat 179

22 The Iñuit Gather Iñuit Katirut 190

23 Epiphany in Nome Puttuqsriruŋa 199

24 Don't Cry! Move Forward! Qianak! Sivutmul! 210

25 The Iñupiat Spirit Iñupiat I$$$itqusiat 216

Epilogue 224

The Language and the People Iñupiaq 235

Iñupiaq Glossary 239

Acknowledgments 245

Index 247