Unit Overview

Unit Three in the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act Instructional Series highlights those sections of ANCSA that have the most significant impact on Native and non-Native Alaskans. The unit revolves around "The Annotated ANCSA." This reading translates each of the key provisions from legal jargon to standard English and provides informative elaborations for each.

While there are many sections and subsections included in ANCSA, the instructional focus should be on the five provisions emphasized in the video and noted in the Quick Reference Outline. It is important that students recognize that the provisions of ANCSA have significance for all Alaskans, whether Native or non-Native, rural or urban.

Unit Goals

Upon completion of this unit the student will:

1. Recognize that ANCSA is the largest, most complicated land settlement ever attempted between the U.S. government and Native Americans.
2. Understand that the provisions of ANCSA have significance for all Alaskans.
3. Identify key sections of ANCSA and be able to explain their implications.
4. Define terms used in the lesson. (Optional)

Video Program Summary

Specific Provisions of ANCSA,@ the third program in the video series, focuses on the five most important provisions of the Land Claims Act.

The first is Section 3, which defines who is and who is not a Native under the terms of the Act.

Section 4 lays out the exchange Natives made for ANCSA. This section says that Natives would have no further claim to land in Alaska based on aboriginal rights; and with the settlement, Natives may have given up their aboriginal right to hunting and fishing.

Section 5 has had far-reaching effects on the Native community. This section explains how only those born on or before the date ANCSA was signed could benefit. All Natives born after December 18, 1971, unless they acquired stock in Native corporations through inheritance or divorce, are left out.

Section 7 is probably the most visible in Alaska. It not only created the regional corporations, but it also placed special restrictions on them. These restrictions made Native corporations different from all other business corporations.

Section 21 says that undeveloped Native lands cannot be taxed for twenty years. Program Three tells the viewer why Congress wrote this into the Act.

All of these provisions make the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act unique. This program tries to break down the legalese in the Act and make the provisions understandable.