Marie Smith Jones

Marie Smith Jones ( in their native language Udach ' Kuqax * a'a'ch ( sound that calls people from afar; born May 5, 1918 in Cordova, Alaska, † January 21, 2008 in Anchorage ) was the last speaker of the language of the Eyak in Alaska. She was also the last member of the tribe, which had only Eyak ancestors, as well as its chief.

Marie Smith Jones grew up in a time when the traditional lifestyle of their tribe was almost wiped out. She had been working as a child at the age of twelve years in one of the fish farms, the displaced wild fish. When she was 15, was her master, who has only consisted of a few dozen members, as one of the last accepted in the United States.

When the U.S. authorities concluded that the Eyak area lived several tribes, they could also enter the Indians who came to Cordova, Aleuts and Inuit in the tribal assembly. The Eyak were by the small minority in their own territory. As opposed Met agreements on Eyak River began felling, Marie Smith Jones tried to fight as a member of the Council, however, but the tribal council was interested in the cultural artifacts on the Eyak River little. They were lost.

Jones took the early 1970s to Anchorage to be closer to their children who lived there. Maybe hung their short-term alcohol dependence with this move together, but they soon broke it.

After the death of her sister Sophia in 1993, Marie Smith Jones hired as the last speaker for the preservation of the Eyak language. From 2000 to 2005 she worked at the Eyak Language Project, which each should give the opportunity to learn the language.

Jones died on 21 January 2008. Among the nine children she had with the fisherman William F. Smith of Oregon ( they married in 1948), lived with her ​​death seven. Jones had taught them English and not Eyak, on the assumption that this would be useful for them.

Film

• Laura Bliss Spaan: More than Words ... The Life and Language of Eyak Chief Marie Smith. 1996