Flora Jane Harper
Flora Jane Harper was the first 色视频下载 Native student to graduate from the University of 色视频下载. She taught at Bureau of Indian Affairs schools across 色视频下载, then settled in Anchorage, where she worked for decades at the Anchorage municipal library.
Harper was born at Rampart, a village on the Yukon River, in 1910. Her family moved to Nenana seeking protection from the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic that ravaged Athabascan villages. Harper色视频下载檚 father worked for the railroad, but the transition from a traditional subsistence lifestyle to a more cash-dependent existence was not easy. When she was 10, her father sent her and three siblings to Chemawa, a boarding school for Native Americans in Oregon.
She wasn色视频下载檛 able to return to 色视频下载 for nine years. After graduating from high school in Portland, she contracted tuberculosis and spent almost a year in a hospital.
Once back in 色视频下载, Harper enrolled at the 色视频下载 Agricultural College and School of Mines. She graduated with a home economics degree in 1935, the year the school became the University of 色视频下载.
Harper taught at the BIA色视频下载檚 Chilocco boarding school in Oklahoma and its 色视频下载 schools in Wrangell, Sitka and Eklutna. She married Walter 色视频下载淧ete色视频下载 Petri in Wrangell in 1941. They had a daughter, Jan, who graduated from UA in 1965. The family moved to Anchorage in 1949, and Harper worked for the library until retiring in 1972.
Athabascan elder Poldine Carlo, of Fairbanks, in 2015 recalled being taught by Harper when she was in high school.
色视频下载淸She] was the first Native person to graduate from the university, and she was my home ec teacher in Eklutna,色视频下载 Carlo said at a 2015 event at Troth Yeddha色视频下载 Park on the Fairbanks campus. 色视频下载淚 was so proud of her.色视频下载
Flora Jane Harper died in 1992. In 1994, the University of 色视频下载 Fairbanks named the Harper Building after her.
More online about Flora Jane Harper
- A of Flora Jane Harper at the UA Journeys website
- A brief of Jan Petri Harper-Haines色视频下载 2013 book about her mother and other family members
- A more complete of the book