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Bernice Joseph

Bernice Joseph was an Athabascan born in 1964 in Tanana, Alaska and raised in Nulato on the Yukon River. She grew up living a subsistence lifestyle and especially enjoyed fishing with her grandfather, Eddie Hildebrand. She successfully integrated her cultural practices with the Western system and graduated from Monroe Catholic High School in Fairbanks, and obtained a bachelor's and a master's degree from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She was passionate about the importance of culturally relevant education and dedicated her life to the education of Indigenous people. She joined the faculty in the Department of Alaska Native and Rural Development at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and in the 1990s was named deputy commissioner of Alaska's Department of Community and Economic Development. Bernice returned to UAF in 2001 as executive dean of the College of Rural and Community Development, and retired in 2013 as vice chancellor for Rural, Community and Native Education. Throughout her life, Bernice continued to practice her cultural traditions and hunting, fishing and gathering lifestyle she learned as a child. She was also an avid runner. Bernice Joseph passed away in 2014. For more about Bernice Joseph, see her obituary in the Fairbanks News-Miner newspaper or a profile of her on the UAF Centennial website commemorating the university's 100th anniversary.

Date of Birth:

Mar 12, 1964

Date of Death:

Jan 7, 2014

Bernice Joseph appears in the following new Jukebox projects:

Fairbanks Native Association

As Interviewer

Interview Title	Archive #: Oral History	Project	Abstract
Richard Frank, Interview 1	92-05-03	Fairbanks Native Association	Richard Frank was interviewed on October 2, 1991 by William Schneider and Bernice Joseph in the recording studio at Elmer E. Rasmuson Library at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. In this interview, Richard talks about his involvement with Alaska Native land claims issues starting in the early 1960s with Minto suing the federal government over leasing of their land for oil and gas development, the establishment of Tanana Chiefs Conference with their first meeting in Tanana (Nuchalawoyya) in 1962, and passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) in 1971. He traces the history of Native land claims back to the 1915 meeting the chiefs of Interior Alaska had with Judge James Wickersham, and he talks about some of the old chiefs and the people who influenced him. Richard also provides details on the revival of the Tanana Chiefs Conference and the land claims leaders of the 1960s. He also discusses the formation of the Fairbanks Native Association (FNA) and its role in the land claims movement and ANCSA period.
Poldine Carlo, Sally Hudson, and Hannah Solomon	92-05-05	Fairbanks Native Association	Poldine Carlo, Sally Hudson, and Hannah Solomon are interviewed on October 30, 1991 by Bernice Joseph in Fairbanks, Alaska. In this interview, these three Native women leaders talk about the founding of the Fairbanks Native Association to help villagers adapt to life in the city, starting FNA's arts and crafts program to sell Native artwork in Fairbanks, and organizing the FNA potlatch to share traditional foods and support the Native community in Fairbanks. They also talk about changes to Native culture, differences between village life and city life, and their thoughts on the continuation of FNA programs.
John Sackett	92-05-11	Fairbanks Native Association	John Sackett was interviewed on December 13, 1991 by Bernice Joseph in offices at the Doyon building in Fairbanks, Alaska. John has been involved in Native affairs and state politics since he was in his early 20s, and the discussion ranged from the history of the Fairbanks Native Association (FNA) to the rise of Native political power in Alaska.