It’s been ten years since Wrangell hosted an Alaska Native Sisterhood and Brotherhood Grand Camp, an annual gathering where members discuss priorities, vote during elections and celebrate culturally. And this past October was the first in-person year since the COVID-19 pandemic. The Alaska Native Brotherhood members formed in 1912 and ANS three years later. Both groups have been fighting for civil rights and land claims ever since.
ANB and ANS members elected three Wrangell residents to serve as Grand Camp officials. Last year, there were two Wrangellites serving elected roles, which was already uncommon.
Members nominated Wrangell resident and ANS President Sandy Churchill for a second term. She’s been with the organization for roughly 50 years.
She said she was surprised to be reelected, and at the same time honored that people put trust in her. She said being the Grand President has always been a lifelong dream for her.
“I’ve been called to service ANS at a young age, and I’m still doing it,” Churchill said. “As long as I can, I’ll keep doing it.”
Churchill said one major topic she’s been focusing on lately is protecting subsistence culture in Alaska and supporting youth.
“Finding culture camps, or different things to keep them [youth] involved, teaching them the sewing and the regalia making,” she said. “And just really trying to engage with them, learning how to do the traditional foods and language, of course, and singing and dancing.”
ANB and ANS members also elected Wrangellite, Second Vice President Virginia Oliver, to serve again in her role. She said she’s been a member since she was 13 years old and the work runs deep in her family.
Each elected official continues on the work of their ancestors
At this year’s Grand Camp, she saw her mom’s name written down as secretary for Camp One in the minutes from decades ago that was on exhibit.
“People would come in on seine boats for convention here in Wrangell, way back in the 60s,” Oliver said. “Mom would set up upstairs with bunks and bedding, and people would come in, and they’d go right upstairs, and they were at the ANB Hall, which was downtown.”
She said ANS is important to her because it continues to preserve Alaska Native voices regarding civil rights and taking responsibility for future generations.
“My mother paid my dues until I got married when I was 18, and I started paying my own dues. You have to pay your dues every year,” Oliver said. “Right now I’m a lifetime member. So I continue to be an Alaska Native Sisterhood, and I pay my granddaughters’ dues like my mother paid mine.”
ANB and ANS members also nominated Wrangellite, Vydell Baker, to serve as the Grand Secretary. At 23-years-old, she stands as the youngest elected officer and one of the two youth serving on the ANS Council.
She said, “For my position on the Council, I think what it means to me is to be a voice to those who cannot speak for themselves.”
She said ANS and ANB started exactly on that foundation. And like the other elected officers in Wrangell, activism runs deep in her family.
Baker said, “My three times great-grandmother, Elizabeth Desmond, I didn’t know this beforehand, but she was a founding member of Alaska Native Sisterhood, and she was also the person who had designed our ANS logo.”
Baker said her biggest passion for being an elected officer is to continue her family’s legacy and to carry the flame they left behind.
She said it wasn’t until just a few years ago that she really got to know her culture and the annual convention gives her hope that her culture will continue to thrive.
The next Grand Camp will be held in Ketchikan in October 2026.
