My Name Is Not Easy

My Name is Not Easy is a work of historical fiction that explores the story of marginalized Indigenous people in United States history.

When Alaska became a state in 1959, there were huge swaths of the state that were largely unsettled or had Native settlements that did not include schools. Native Alaskans were forced by the U.S. Government to accept the education of their children at distant boarding schools. The Bureau of Indian Affairs sometimes rant these schools. Because of its connection to funding from the United States government, BIA schools provided a specifically white American education, even though these schools were closer to home and community for Native Americans. However, various authorities forced students to go to boarding schools associated with religious organizations. These schools actively erased students’ culture, language, and identity. In the “Author’s Note” to My Name is Not Easy, Dahl Edwardson highlights the negative impact of these schools on the psyche of the Native American community.

The narrative of My Name is Not Easy features a story taken directly from an actual Alaskan boarding school for Native Americans. The Copper Valley School won a new school bus through a Betty Crocker coupon competition. The novel includes another historical fact in the description of Project Chariot, which riles up the students in Part 4 and brings them together in solidarity behind a shared cause. Project Chariot was a government-funded plan to use atomic blasts to create a harbor in Alaska, which damaged the environment and well-being of the Native American community.

In the 1950s, the U.S. military conducted experiments using iodine-131 in Iñupiaq communities in Alaska. The novel draws from this history when military scientists force Luke and the other Eskimo children to consume iodine-131. These real-life experiments likely caused cancer, but the military never studied the long-term effects on victims of this scientific research nor did the government compensate the individuals.

Dahl Edwardson writes of her autobiographical connection to this novel in the “Author’s Note.” She married a man named George whose brother died in a plane crash and whose other brother was forcibly adopted by a white Texan family without his family’s permission. He was not reunited with his family until adulthood. George was the real-life inspiration for Luke.

This novel also contributes to the larger narrative of the systemic abuse of minority communities. In recent years, Canada has reckoned with its versions of these Native American boarding schools, where many children died without official note. Hidden graves at these schools highlight the rife white supremacy and racism practiced in violent acts in these institutions.