View source for Alaska Day

{{Short description|U.S. holiday commemorating the Alaska Purchase}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2018}}
{{Infobox holiday
| holiday_name  = Alaska Day
| type          = Historical
| longtype      = 
| image         = Alaska Day reenactment 2017.jpg
| caption       = Transfer ceremony reenactment in 2017
| official_name = 
| nickname      = 
| observedby    = Alaskans
| begins        = 
| ends          = 
| duration      = 1 day
| frequency     = Annual
| scheduling    = same day each year
| date          = October 18
| mdy           = yes
| significance  = Anniversary of the 1867 [[Alaska Purchase]]
| celebrations  = 
| observances   = Parade in [[Sitka, Alaska|Sitka]], paid holiday for employees in Alaska
| relatedto     = [[Seward's Day]]
}}
'''Alaska Day''' is a legal holiday in the U.S. state of [[Alaska]], observed on October 18.<ref name="Festival">{{cite web |last=Finkenbinder |first=Maria |title=Alaska Day Festival |publisher=Shelter Cove Publishing |year=2012 |url=http://alaskadayfestival.org/index.html |access-date=October 18, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170608232309/https://www.alaskadayfestival.org/index.html |archive-date=June 8, 2017}}</ref> It is the anniversary of the [[Alaska Purchase|formal transfer]] of [[Russian America|territories in present-day Alaska]] from the [[Russian Empire]] to the [[United States]], which occurred on Friday, {{OldStyleDate|October 18|1867|October 6}}.
==Background==
On March 30, 1867, the United States [[Alaska Purchase|purchased Alaska]] from the Russian Empire for the sum of $7.2 million,<ref name="Treaty">{{cite web|title=Treaty with Russia for the Purchase of Alaska |publisher=Library of Congress |date=April 18, 2012 |url=https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/Alaska.html |access-date=October 18, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150329025653/http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/Alaska.html |archive-date=March 29, 2015 }}</ref> equivalent to ${{Inflation|US-GDP|7.2|1867}} million in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}.{{Inflation/fn|US-GDP}}<ref group="note">The inflation-adjusted value is calculated using the United States [[Gross Domestic Product deflator|GDP deflator]], which measures changes in the general price level of goods and services produced in the U.S. economy. This methodology accounts for overall economic growth and inflation since 1867.</ref> It was not until October of that year that the commissioners arrived in [[Sitka City and Borough, Alaska|Sitka]] and the formal transfer was arranged. The formal flag-raising took place at [[Castle Hill (Sitka, Alaska)|Fort Sitka]] on October 18, 1867. The original ceremony included 250 [[United States Army]] troops, who marched to the governor's house at "[[Castle Hill (Sitka, Alaska)|Castle Hill]]". There, the American soldiers raised the American flag, and the Russian flag was lowered.<ref name="nrhpinv2">{{Cite web |last=Hanable |first=William S. |date=1975-04-04 |title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination Form: American Flag Raising Site |url=https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75325329}}</ref>

The official account of the affair as presented by General [[Lovell Rousseau]] to Secretary of State [[William H. Seward]]:<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Seward |first1=William H. |last2=Rousseau |first2=Lovell H. |date=1908 |title=Transfer of Alaska to the United States |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40473970 |journal=The Washington Historical Quarterly |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=83–91 |issn=0361-6223 |jstor=40473970 |access-date=2025-10-18}}</ref>

{{blockquote|... The troops being promptly formed, were, at precisely half past three o'clock, brought to a 'present arms', the signal given to the ''[[USS Ossipee (1861)|Ossipee]]'' ... which was to fire the salute, and the ceremony was begun by lowering the Russian flag ... The United States flag ... was properly attached and began its ascent, hoisted by my private secretary [and son], George Lovell Rousseau, and again salutes were fired as before, the Russian water battery leading off. The flag was so hoisted that in the instant it reached its place the report of the big gun of the ''Ossipee'' reverberated from the mountains around ... Captain Pestchouroff stepped up to me and said, "General Rousseau, by authority from his Majesty the Emperor of Russia, I transfer to the United States the Territory of Alaska" and in a few words I acknowledged the acceptance of the transfer, and the ceremony was at an end.<ref name="Festival"></ref>}}

The transfer ceremony occurred on October 18, 1867, according to the [[Gregorian calendar]] used by the United States. However, Russia still used the [[Julian calendar]] at that time, which was 12 days behind the Gregorian calendar in the 19th century. Therefore, the date in the Russian calendar was October 6 (Old Style), though some sources cite October 7 due to the 11-hour time difference between [[Sitka, Alaska|Sitka]] and [[St. Petersburg]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Crotty |first=Rob |date=2010-10-18 |title=Seward's time-traveling folly |url=https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2010/10/18/sewards-time-traveling-folly/ |access-date=2025-10-18 |website=Pieces of History |publisher=[[National Archives and Records Administration]]}}</ref>
==Observance==
[[File:Coast Guard renews Coast Guard City designation for Sitka, Alaska, during Alaska Day festivities, 2017.jpg|thumb|[[Coast Guard Air Station Sitka]] personnel and aircraft in the 2017 Alaska Day parade in Sitka]]

Alaska's territorial legislature declared Alaska Day a holiday in 1917. It is a paid holiday for state employees.<ref name="Dispatch">{{cite news
  | title =Happy Alaska Day, Great Land!
  | newspaper =Alaska Dispatch
  | date =October 18, 2011
  | url =http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/happy-alaska-day-great-land
  | access-date =October 18, 2014
  | archive-date =May 2, 2012
  | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20120502232826/http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/happy-alaska-day-great-land
  | url-status =dead
  }}</ref><ref name="Calendar">{{cite web
  | title =State Calendar
  | publisher =Alaska Department of Administration
  | year = 2011
  | url =https://doa.alaska.gov/calendars.html
  | access-date =October 18, 2014  }}</ref> The annual celebration is held in Sitka, where schools release students early, many businesses close for the day, and events such as a [[parade]] and reenactment of the flag-raising are held.<ref>{{cite web |date=6 November 2017 |title=Alaska Day Festival |url=https://visitsitka.org/events/alaska-day-festival |access-date=18 October 2022 |website=Visit Sitka |publisher=Greater Sitka Chamber of Commerce}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Woolsey |first1=Robert |date=14 October 2022 |title=Human Rights Commission to join Sitka's Alaska Day Festival |url=https://www.kcaw.org/2022/10/14/human-rights-commission-to-join-sitkas-alaska-day-festival/ |access-date=18 October 2022 |website=[[KCAW]] |publisher=}}</ref>

Alaska Day is distinct from [[Seward's Day]], celebrated on the last Monday in March. Seward's Day commemorates the signing of the treaty for the Alaska Purchase in [[Washington, D.C.]] on March 30, 1867.<ref>{{cite web |title=Student Information |url=http://www.dced.state.ak.us/oed/student_info/student.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090208194844/http://dced.state.ak.us/oed/student_info/student.htm |archive-date=2009-02-08 |access-date=2008-03-12 |publisher=State of Alaska}}</ref>
==Modern view==
Alaska Day is observed  by some<ref name="Russell">{{cite news |last=Russell |first=Emily |date=October 26, 2016 |title=Alaska Day Dilemma: celebrating history without colonialism |url=https://www.kcaw.org/2016/10/26/alaska-day-dilemma-celebrating-history-without-colonialism/ |access-date=October 17, 2017 |newspaper=KCAW |publisher= |location= |language=en}}</ref> [[Alaska Natives|Alaska Native]] people with mixed feelings or protest, as they view the holiday as celebrating events that resulted in significant impacts to their communities and sovereignty.<ref name="Gibson">{{cite news |last=Gibson |first=Sarah |date=October 18, 2017 |title=Clans Give Views On Events of 1867 |url=http://sitkasentinel.com/7/2012-05-10-22-08-10/local-news/12071-clans-give-views-on-events-of-1867 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250323213547/https://sitkasentinel.com/7/2012-05-10-22-08-10/local-news/12071-clans-give-views-on-events-of-1867 |archive-date=2025-03-23 |access-date=October 17, 2017 |newspaper=Sitka Sentinel |location= |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Kwong">{{cite news | last =Kwong
| first =Emily
| title =150 years in the making, Kiks.ádi gather to commemorate loss of land
| newspaper =KCAW
| language =en
| date =October 17, 2017
| url =https://www.kcaw.org/2017/10/17/150-years-making-kiks-adi-gather-commemorate-loss-land/
| access-date = October 17, 2017}}</ref>{{r|Kwong}}<ref name="Kwong2">{{cite news |last=Kwong |first=Emily |date=November 24, 2017 |title=Indigenous voices call for a new kind of Alaska Day |url=https://www.kcaw.org/2017/11/24/indigenous-voices-call-new-kind-alaska-day/ |access-date=November 24, 2017 |newspaper=KCAW |language=en}}</ref> Native organizers have asserted that the land was not Russia's to sell, as Indigenous peoples had inhabited the territory for thousands of years; therefore, they consider the sale of the land to the U.S. without Native consent to be illegitimate.<ref name="Woolsey">{{cite news |last=Woolsey |first=Robert |date=16 October 2019 |title=In Sitka, Indigenous Peoples Day a prelude to broader 'reconciliation' |url=https://www.kcaw.org/2019/10/16/in-sitka-indigenous-peoples-day-a-prelude-to-broader-reconciliation/ |access-date=21 October 2019 |newspaper=KCAW |publisher= |location= |language=en}}</ref>

In recent years, some Alaska Native groups and community organizers have continued to hold events or discussions aimed at raising awareness of historical impacts, while local governments maintain October 18 as a legal holiday.<ref>{{cite news |last=Kwong |first=Emily |date=October 18, 2024 |title=Alaska Day reflections continue in Sitka |url=https://www.kcaw.org/2024/10/18/alaska-day-reflections-sitka |access-date=October 18, 2025 |work=KCAW |publisher=}}</ref>

Some Alaska Natives have characterized the events surrounding the transfer and subsequent treatment of Indigenous peoples as forms of [[cultural genocide]]. In response to these concerns, Peter Bradley, a former resident of Sitka, formally proposed a resolution calling for the renaming of Alaska Day to Reconciliation Day, seeking to acknowledge both the historical significance of the transfer and the perspectives of Alaska Native communities.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kwong |first=Emily |date=2017-11-25 |title=AK: Various looks at the controversial Alaska Day |url=https://alaskapublic.org/2017/11/24/ak-various-looks-at-the-controversial-alaska-day/ |access-date=2023-01-13 |website=Alaska Public Media |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{reflist|group="note"}}
==References==
{{reflist}}

{{U.S. Holidays}}
[[Category:Annual events in Alaska]]
[[Category:State holidays in the United States]]
[[Category:October observances]]
[[Category:1917 establishments in Alaska]]
[[Category:Recurring events established in 1917]]
[[Category:Native American-related controversies]]