Russian America

Despite these, at times heavy-handed, encroachments on their traditions and the increasing Native involvement in the market economy, the Tlingit retained the earlierambivalent views of Americans. Even in the turn of the twentieth century, despite all outward appearances of having been fully "civilized" and, perhaps thanks to this ostentatious compliancewith the White man�s standards, the Tlingit retained a great deal of social, political, and cultural independence. In fact, they continued to "tolerate Americans as a necessary evil"(p. 280). Kan shows that the rise in Tlingit interest in Christianity and education in 1870�s was essentially an indigenous movement, an endeavor to help the Tlingit adjust to and benefit from thepresence of the powerful newcomers. In fact, it wasthe Tlingits� willingness to be included in the world of the White man, motivated by the desire to be treated with "respect" that was the key element of success of the Presbyterian missions. Although the Tlinglit, especially the younger generation, understood the advantages of a Presbyterian education, they were becoming increasingly resentful about the absence of the "respect" they had established with the Russians.

The "lack of respect" from the Presbyterian missionaries and educators eventually resulted in their shift towards the Russian Orthodox Church in Sitka and several other northern Tlingit communities in 1880-90�s.

The story of the rivalry between the increasingly impoverished and understaffed Russian Orthodox and the well-financed Presbyterian missions is one of the most fascinating stories of the book. In seemed that at first the Orthodox Church was doomed to lose. In the first years after the sale of Alaska it became obvious the influence of Russian Orthodoxy was rather superficial. The Russian Orthodox mission was despised as "foreign," while the Presbyterians enjoyed wide support of the authorities, especially in the first decade of American rule. The Presbyterians, putting the traditional Protestantanti-Catholicism to the good use, accused the Russian Orthodox mission of promoting superstition, idolatry, and even making new converts "swear allegiance to the emperor of Russia" (p. 236). The Russian priests, increasingly frustrated that government money went to finance the Presbyterian boarding school (thus putting the impoverished parish school at an obvious disadvantage), responded in kind, attacking the Presbyterian preachers as "sectarians." Kan demonstrates that, although both missions regarded Tlingit as "children" and objects of their "enlightening" endeavors, they in fact, were"shrewd manipulators of the two missions," and sometimes even played one mission against another.

Despite all these obvious disadvantages, the Russian Orthodox enjoyed growing popularity among the Tlingit. Of course, the fact that the Russian Orthodox mission had been part of Tlingit life since the late 1700�s was one of the most obvious factors behind this success. The richness of the Orthodox ritual and especially the tradition of the commemoration of the dead seemed more attractive to the Tlingit faithful, especially when compared with "plain" worship of the Presbyterians. However, the main cause was the Tlingits� growing dissatisfaction with the Presbyterian missions. The Presbyterians�insistence on eradicating all "old customs" inevitably resulted in the alienation of the majority of the Tlingit. In the Orthodox Church they "could be both "civilized" and respectable, but also largely independent" (p. 239).