White: Man on a mission to preserve native languages (fwd link)

[phil cash cash]

White: Man on a mission to preserve native languages
SRU prof, author uses experiences to help native tribes

By Carol Ann Gregg/ Staff writer
Published May 15, 2009 03:24 pm
USA

Dr. Frederick White’s life generated his passion to preserve the native
languages of Native Americans.

The Slippery Rock University English professor navigated a winding, challenging
path from his roots in one of the western-most native islands of Canada, very
near Alaska, before ending up in Slippery Rock, where he now teaches English.

A member of the Haida nation, White – like many Native Americans, or First
Nations as they are called in Canada – dropped out of high school.

“It was through a spiritual encounter and the journey to California I began to
turn my life around. I actually had my 21st birthday on that trip,” White said.

The result of his quest was the publishing of his doctoral dissertation,
“Ancestral Language Acquisition Among Native Americans: A Study of a Haida
Language Class.”

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