Congress transferred local control of Pribilof Islands to Unangax̂ in 1983
The United States took possession of the Pribilof Islands, a remote archipelago in the Bering Sea, as part of the 1867 Alaska Purchase from Russia. At that time the islands housed the Russian-American Company’s commercial fur-seal operation, and the Unangax̂ people living there were compelled to harvest seals under U.S. authority as “wards of the state,” according to the report.
The arrangement effectively continued a system of forced labor that predated American rule. Russian colonizers had earlier moved Unangan people from the Aleutian Islands to the Pribilofs to work in the seal harvest, according to historical documentation cited by NPR and other sources. On Russia’s Commander Islands, the Alaska Commercial Company hired Unangax̂ laborers to hunt seals using methods developed jointly by Russians and Unangax̂, the National Park Service has noted.
Under U.S. administration, the federal government maintained supervision over the Unangax̂ communities on the Pribilof Islands. The arrangement continued under U.S. authority from 1867 until 1983.
During World War II, the U.S. government forcibly evacuated Unangax̂ residents from the Aleutian Islands and detained them in camps in southeastern Alaska. Some of the men were forced to harvest fur seals while detained, according to historical records cited by the Smithsonian Institution.
The federal government’s direct supervision of the Pribilof Islands ended in 1983, when Congress passed legislation transferring local governance to the Unangax̂ people themselves. The transfer restored indigenous control over the islands after 116 years under U.S. authority.
The report is part of NPR’s continuing America 250 series, which examines episodes in the nation’s history as the United States approaches its semiquincentennial in 2026.