JAN 31 ALASKAN WOMAN IS FIRST PERSON COUNTED IN 2020 CENSUS

JAN 31  ALASKAN WOMAN IS FIRST PERSON COUNTED IN 2020 CENSUS

The 2020's are a month old. In the US, a new decade means our census is now underway. While ancient civilizations from Babylon to the Inca conducted counts, the USA was the first modern nation to formally do an official census. Thomas Jefferson insisted it be in our Constitution in 1787. Three years later, in 1790, the first US census occurred. There were 3,929,214 Americans.

In the twenty-two censuses since then, the bureau has tinkered with new methods and procedures. One such change is to start counting people in the most remote...the most difficult places to get to...FIRST. Welcome to Toksook Bay, Alaska. It a tiny village on the frigid Bering Sea. It's only accessible by bush plane, dog sled or snowmobile. The residents are all Yupik people who have lived there for centuries.

Naturally, when the people in Toksook Bay discovered they would be the FIRST PLACE to be officially visited by the Census Bureau, they were ecstatic. Then the question arose: Who get to be the FIRST PERSON to be counted? Well, in Native American cultures, elders and ancestors are most prominent. And the oldest, wisest person in Toksook Bay is Lizzie Chimiugak, age 90. To be clear: Federal Privacy laws prohibit identifying any one individual in the census. Director Steven Dillingham only performed a 'ceremonial' first interview with Lizzie.

But what an interview it turned out to be! When born in 1930, the Alaskan Territory had only 59,000 people...almost all in Anchorage and Fairbanks. The nomadic Yupik were unaware of this when Lizzie was born in a mud hut...one of ten children. Her childhood involved cleaning fish, tanning hides and gutting seals. When permanent homes were built by the government in the 1950's, she married and moved in. She has five kids of her own.

After the ceremony, held in the Nelson Island Schoolhouse, the surprisingly spry Lizzie got up and danced with her community. But then, inquisitive journalists got involved and ruined the party and the feel-good vibe of this blog. Speaking through a Yupik translator, Lizzie confessed: She is worried about the future of Alaska. For 90 years, she's seen ice melt and miles of land exposed. For 90 years, she's watched the once abundant wildlife vanish. Sigh..