History

Alaska Airlines use of the phrase “Meet our Eskimo” in its rebranding campaign has sparked a controversy and new conversation about what “Eskimo” means to Alaska Natives.

Archaeologists found the 2,100-year-old tea leaves in the tomb of a Han dynasty emperor, suggesting tea was highly valued. But was the emperor drinking tea as we do, or using it as medicine?

At Oxford University, a group is pushing to have a statue of Cecil Rhodes removed. Student Tadiwa Madenga explains the group’s objections to the colonialist namesake of the Rhodes Scholarship.

Florida’s Dozier School for Boys is a horror tale come to life. Nearly 100 boys died at the school, many unidentified, in unmarked graves. Scientists are trying to discover who they were.

As the state consider changes to these two very Alaskan institutions, it’s worth taking a look back at how – and why – they were created.

Nearly three decades after the disastrous Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989, the litigation for the remaining cash the state and federal governments could pursue from Exxon is at an end. A clause in the 1991 settlement said up to $100 million could be requested from Exxon for future unknown damage. It was called the reopener.