newsminer.com

KETCHIKAN, Alaska (AP) - Fifty years ago, Nancy DeWitt became an American citizen.

In reality, she always was an American, but because she was born in the Territory of Alaska, rather than in the United States, she was treated differently.

DeWitt was born in Ketchikan 15 years before statehood. When she and her sister - Mary Ida Henrikson, also Territory-born - would accompany their mother south to visit grandparents, the sisters had to go through customs, though their Washington-born mom did not.

DeWitt recalled that her late husband, Jonathan, was stuck in Mexico once because the border officials questioned his citizenship. Jonathan - a Tlingit Indian born in the Territory of Alaska - was living in California at the time, she said, and had gone to Tijuana for a quick vacation.

The vacation lasted a little longer than planned when he wasn't allowed back into California.

"A lot of phone calls were made and they finally let him across," she said.

That changed 50 years ago, when Alaska became the 49th state on Jan. 3, 1959.

"I remember the day we became a state, I thought, 'Now I'm finally an American citizen,'" DeWitt said in a telephone interview Friday.

While statehood became official on Jan. 3, 1959, the vote approving Alaska's bid took place the summer before, on June 30, 1958.

The Fourth of July celebration that year was a big one.

"There was dancing in the street," DeWitt said. "It was a beautiful summer. There was a band downtown ... on Mission Street. There were a lot of people downtown."

However, her mother, Mildred Henrikson, had to spend her holiday weekend hard at work, DeWitt recalled.

DeWitt's mother worked for the law firm of Gore and Jernberg, which represented some of the Southeast Native villages that wanted to keep using fish traps.

When Alaska became a state, federally allowed fish traps became illegal through the new state constitution. Today, the only part of the state where fish traps are allowed is the Annette Island federal Indian reserve.

DeWitt said before statehood, there were people who didn't want Alaska to become a state, and there were many debates over the pros and cons. At 15, she said, the arguments didn't make much sense to her.

"I was happy that we became a state," she said.