104 College Drive
Please join the Friends of SJ Museum on Saturday, May 3, 2025 from 2:00-3:30 pm for our annual meeting. Members and the general public are welcome to attend. More information at friendsofsjm.com/annualmeeting
The business meeting is anticipated to be 30 minutes followed by Guest speaker Mike iqyax̂ Livingston PhD, giving a presentation entitled, “Honoring Benny Benson on July 9, 2027” about the Unangax̂ 14-year-old designer of the Alaska state flag. He is scheduled to begin at 2:30 pm.
The FoSJM annual meeting will give a brief review of 2024, including the election of board members for 2025, and membership will vote on a resolution of support to change the name of the Sheldon Jackson Museum.
Guest speaker Mike iqyax̂ Livingston PhD
“Honoring Benny Benson on July 9, 2027”
July 9, 2027 is the 100-year anniversary of the raising of Alaska’s flag by Benny Benson, the seventh grade Alaska Native boy who won the contest in 1927. Racism against Alaska Natives in 1927 was in-your-face and aggressive with signs on businesses: NO NATIVES NO DOGS. The panel of three judges in Seward did not want a dark-skinned Alaska Native boy to win the flag contest. They only awarded him third place. Benny was vilified in the media with derogatory names: Third placer, swarthy (dark skinned), inmate, plagiarizer, hornswoggler, motherless. Crimes were committed against Benny. His name has been erased. Others – who did less – received more. Even though Benny passed in 1972, the crimes and erasures continue to today. What can we do before the 100-year anniversary to honor this 14-year-old Alaska Native boy who rose above and continues to stand tall today as a healthy role model for all Alaskans?
Michael Livingston has thoroughly researched Benny Benson’s family tree and history, publishing several articles about the only US state flag designed by a Native American. Mike applied for and received a superior court order from the Alaska Court System which ordered Alaska Vital Statistics to correct Benny Benson’s birth certificate. Mike has served as a police officer in Alaska for 28 years, has served as a principal investigator with the National Science Foundation, and was recognized by US Senator Dan Sullivan as a “detective with a servant’s heart.”
JOIN THE PROGRAM IN PERSON:
Sheldon Jackson Museum
104 College Drive
Sitka, AK
JOIN THE PROGRAM ON ZOOM:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88456656142?pwd=LwSTuqfnxTpwSe7nOkzv6aJAp8zt9W.1
Meeting ID: 884 5665 6142
Passcode: flag