Sealaska Heritage Institute will sponsor a noon lecture series to celebrate Native American Heritage Month in November. The series will focus on the impact of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, or ANCSA.

Congress passed ANCSA 40 years ago. At the time, the Act was the largest land claims settlement in U.S. history. It was intended to resolve claims by First Alaskans to traditional lands they had inhabited for hundreds, or thousands of years. Approximately 44 million acres were designated for return to First Alaskans through 12 regional Native corporations and more than 200 village corporations. A 13th corporation was later added.

The selection of these lands is ongoing. Bills in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate, if passed, would allow Sealaska Corp. to select lands outside of the Act’s original area.

Alaska settled its Native land claims in a historic way by founding Native corporations. That was a complete departure from the way Native tribes in the Lower 48 settled land claims by forming reservations, said Rosita Worl, president of Sealaska Heritage Institute.

“ANCSA is a very different creature than reservations,” Worl said. “I know Alaskans hear a lot about Native corporations but they might not always understand the history of ANCSA, or how corporations work.”

The first Native Heritage Month was proclaimed in 1990 by President George H. W. Bush. Similar proclamations have been issued each year since 1994, according to the Native American Heritage Month website. Find out more about Alaska Native Heritage Month and events at www.alaskanativeheritagemonth.com

Sealaska will hold five one-hour lectures in the fourth floor boardroom at Sealaska Plaza in Juneau starting at noon. Attendees are invited to bring their own lunches.

The first lecture, on Nov. 4, will feature speaker Byron Mallot, a fellow at First Alaskan Institute. Mallot’s presentation is titled, “ANCSA: Good or Bad?”

Other topics in the series are “The Interrelationships Between Tribes and Corporations,” Nov. 14, “Alaska Native Corporations and Cultural Models of Sustainability,” Nov. 15, “The Legal Status of Alaska Native Corporations and Economic Self Determination,” Nov. 21, and “ANCSA: A Path to Assimilation or Cultural Survival,” Nov. 28.

The series is sponsored by McDowell Group and Kathy Ruddy of Juneau.

The Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indians and Sealaska Corp. also will sponsor a noon luncheon on Nov. 16, to recognize the initial Sealaska Board of Directors and Emil Notti, chairman of the Alaska Federation of Natives when Alaska Natives were pursuing the settlement of their aboriginal land claims.