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Capitalizing on her state’s encouragement of activism, 16-year-old Molly Hootch (and 27 teen plaintiffs) won the establishment of 105 high schools in native villages across Alaska so kids didn’t have to leave home nine months per year in order to get an education after eighth grade – a nd many of the students who did so boarded with white families that treated them like servants.
After the class action lawsuit settled, Nunapitchuk was one of the first to open a “high school” in the late 1970s, held in a cold, single-room clinic building where students wore parkas in class during the winter.
– Eve Lederman, The 100 Companies