The totem carvers and copper shield warriors of the Pacific Northwest whose clan houses and potlatch ceremonies built the most artistically magnificent civilization on the North American coast.
Tlingit People — the Indigenous American nation whose traditional territory stretches along the southeastern Alaska coastline and the adjacent islands of the Alexander Archipelago, the temperate rainforest world of towering Sitka spruce, cedar, and hemlock whose sheltered waterways, salmon-rich rivers, and abundant marine resources supported one of the most prosperous and artistically sophisticated indigenous civilizations in North America, the Tlingit people's mastery of the Pacific Northwest coastal environment through the technology of the ocean-going dugout canoe, the cedar plank longhouse, and the preservation of salmon through smoking and drying producing a material abundance that freed the creative and ceremonial energies of Tlingit society for the development of an artistic tradition of extraordinary complexity and beauty whose totem poles, clan house screens, Chilkat blankets, and copper shields represent the highest expression of Northwest Coast indigenous art. The Tlingit world — whose moiety system dividing all Tlingit people into the Raven and Eagle clans whose exogamous marriage rules, reciprocal ceremonial obligations, and complementary social functions organized Tlingit society with an elegance and a stability that sustained the civilization across millennia, whose potlatch ceremony of feasting, gift-giving, and the public validation of clan rights and social status represented not the wasteful extravagance that colonial authorities who banned it in both the United States and Canada imagined but the most sophisticated system of wealth redistribution, social memory, and political legitimacy in the Northwest Coast world, whose Tlingit warriors' fierce resistance to Russian colonial encroachment culminating in the Battle of Sitka in 1804 where Tlingit fighters held the Russian-American Company's forces at bay in a demonstration of military capability that forced the Russians to negotiate rather than simply dominate, and whose Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 participation through the Sealaska Corporation created a model of indigenous economic development that has made the Tlingit among the most economically self-sufficient Native nations in the United States — continues today in the clan houses, totem raising ceremonies, and language nests of southeastern Alaska whose Tlingit artists, elders, and young people carry the visual language of the raven and the eagle into a future as vast and enduring as the Pacific itself. This interactive t-shirt connects you to that magnificent and sovereign legacy with a QR code linking to the full story.
HERITAG is a purpose-driven brand that celebrates cultural diversity and awareness. Wear and share your social identity and cultural heritage with a unique collection of interactive t-shirts that carry flags of indigenous people in America. Create informative and fun moments by inviting people to scan the visible QR code and learn about the diverse US population.
Making products on demand instead of in bulk also helps reduce overproduction, and this quality t-shirt is made especially for you as soon as you place an order.
Few more details about this t-shirt: • Scannable QR code printed on the back for an interactive and fun experience • Designed to educate about a nation's proud history and rich culture • Custom print-on-demand unisex t-shirt • 100% cotton Gildan t-shirt. Soft, comfy, pre-shrunk jersey knit • Sport Grey is 90% cotton, 10% polyester • Heather colors are 50% cotton, 50% polyester • Classic fit, taped neck and shoulders for soft feel • Double seam at sleeves and bottom hem for more durability • Fabric weight: 5.0-5.3 oz./yd² (170-180 g/m²)
