A Schoolteacher in Old Alaska: The Story of Hannah Breece

David R. Hutchinson is an educator on the Peguis Reserve in Manitoba.

This book features the diary entries of schoolteacher Hannah Breece, who
taught in a variety of Alaskan communities from 1904 to 1918.

On one level, the autobiography underscores the strength and courage of
a middle-aged woman fighting to assert herself as a committed and caring
educator on the Alaskan frontier. Hannah overcomes tremendous adversity,
including extremely difficult working conditions and travel on
treacherous wilderness trails, to fulfil her responsibilities as a
northern educator.

On another level, the book reveals some of the sociocultural and
political history behind the paradoxical role played by non-Native
educators who chose to teach in Native communities. Although Hannah’s
respect for the children and their communities is evident, her
assessment of student and community educational needs is decidedly
assimilatory. From Hannah’s perspective, education was to be focused
on the development of civilized behaviors—a development based on heavy
doses of home economics and English literacy, and a curriculum largely
devoid of local aboriginal culture and language.

In hindsight, it is easy to criticize the work of educators like
Hannah, although one cannot fully argue that her teaching was
ineffective or racist. What shine through in this book are her love for
the students and her desire to ensure the safety and health of the
aboriginal people she was working with and living alongside. A
consummate professional, she strove against considerable odds to live up
to the instructional expectations of the U.S. government.

There are two potential audiences for Hannah Breece’s fascinating
account of life in post-Russia Alaska: teachers in training who aspire
to work in Native communities, and anyone with a taste for good
historical nonfiction.