The Board of Directors of Shee Atiká, Incorporated is honoring Nancy Douglas with the Kaal.átk’ (Charlie Joseph, Sr.) Cultural and Heritage Award for her lifelong commitment and continued support of Native education with the Sitka Native Education Program, the Sitka School District and the Juneau Douglas School District.

The Charlie Joseph, Sr. (Kaal.átk’) award is given to a group or individual who strives to preserve the Tlingit lifestyle.  Preserving the Tlingit way of life can be through living or teaching others the lifestyle of the Tlingit people before Western man.  Charlie Joseph, Sr. shared his knowledge extensively by living a subsistence lifestyle, as well as teaching Tlingit traditions to students in the Sitka Native Education Program in Sitka from 1974 until his death in 1987.  Through his teaching and example, similar programs began cropping up in the Southeast Alaska region, and today, many of the dance groups in Sitka and Southeast Alaska use the protocol he taught to countless numbers of students here in Sitka.  Through his selfless efforts, Sitka and Shee Atiká owe Charlie Joseph, Sr. a debt of gratitude for passing on the knowledge and traditions of Tlingit people still being used today, almost 20 years after his passing.