FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tlingit & Haida Launches Gumboots Go! Series for Children

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tlingit & Haida Launches Gumboots Go! Series for Children

JUNEAU, AK (January 3, 2022) – The Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska (Tlingit & Haida) is proud to announce the launch of its new educational YouTube children’s series called Gumboots Go!

The videos highlight the Tlingit, Haida and Tsmishian cultures in Southeast Alaska and are the product of a community collaboration with Cedar Group under Tlingit & Haida’s Child Care and Development Block Grant.

In the first episode, Tlingit weaver Lily Hope shows children how to weave a traditional Chilkat robe with yarn she hand-spun from mountain goat wool. The second episode features Michelle Sáandlanaay Eakman doing a Xaad Kíl (Haida language) version of the song “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.”

“When we learn our language, it can heal and make our hearts bigger and it can make our minds stronger. Then we can share it with our friends and family. Then our language will survive; it won’t go anywhere because we are all sharing it together,” Sáandlanaay tells viewers.

Learning Haida with Sáandlanaay Michelle Eakman

The goal is to create engaging content for children that connects them with their Indigenous heritage and celebrates Alaska’s first people.

“Representation matters. When I was growing up, it was extremely rare to see our culture represented beyond our own home and certainly not on popular media. So, for kids to be able to see, hear and feel their language and their culture, it’s uplifting,” said President Richard Chalyee Éesh Peterson.

So far, there are eight videos on the Gumboots Go! YouTube channel. The series includes several more extended pieces, like Lily’s weaving and Sáandlanaay’s song, as well as one with Tsimshian artist Abel Ryan making a drum and another with a group of uncles hunting for deer. Shorter Culture Bearer Spotlights feature a Tsimshian handwashing song, information about Elizabeth Peratrovich and stories by local authors.

Cultural Heritage Manager Stephen Qacung Blanchett says his goal is to have all the videos produced in Native languages. He said language, cultural practices and traditions help people heal from historical trauma.

“Our generation of young people was ashamed of being Native,” Qacung said. “We hid our Native-ness; we put it on the back burner. Having programs like Gumboots Go!, children today won’t know any different. They’ll know a world where their culture, languages and practices are celebrated, not devalued.”

The Gumboots Go! YouTube channel will be updated as more videos are produced.

Watch Now

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Contact:

Office of the President | Communications

Heather Hintze, Media & Communications Specialist

Phone: 800.344.1432 ext. 7199 | Email: communications@ccthita-nsn.gov

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