SHI renames two conference rooms in downtown Juneau’s Walter Soboleff Building

The Sealaska Heritage Institute Board of Trustees has approved the renaming of two conference rooms in SHI’s Walter Soboleff building in downtown Juneau to honor Native leaders.

The Living History Room, located on the building’s second floor, is being renamed the Marlene Johnson Room. A conference room on the third floor will be called the Judson Brown Conference Room. Both renamings pay tribute to deceased Tlingit leaders.

The change is part of a larger effort to pay tribute to Native leaders and role models, said SHI President Rosita Worl.

“Native people have shaped Alaska since time immemorial. In recent times, Native people fought for civil rights and land claims through the institutions of the United States. Alaskans might not have learned about our Native warriors in schools, but they have made a huge difference in the lives of Indigenous people and on the state as a whole,” said Worl.

In the same vein, SHI last year installed a rotating exhibit titled Icons of Alaska Native Leadership. The inaugural exhibit paid homage to the late Byron Mallott (1943–2020), a Kwaashkʼíḵwáan clan leader from the Fort House of Yakutat. It currently showcases regalia belonging to Air Jazz, a Tlingit role model and musician from the G̱aanax̱teidí clan.

Marlene Johnson, Slath Jaa Klaa/Láooti, was Tlingit of the Yéil (Raven) moiety, T’akdeintaan (Sea Pigeon) clan, Taax Hít (Mt. Fairweather House, also known as the Snail House) in Hoonah. One of the original incorporators of Sealaska, she was a fearless warrior of Alaska Native land claims, rights and education. 

Johnson was born in Hoonah in 1935. She studied administrative law at the National Judicial College at the University of Nevada before helping to form the Rural Alaska Community Action Program (RurAL CAP), a private, statewide nonprofit dedicated to improving the quality of life for low-income Alaskans. While serving as its president, she helped unite Native leaders to fight for land claims, working tirelessly to create the Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN) when oil was found on the north slope.

Later in life, Johnson became one of the original incorporators of Sealaska. She served on the board for almost 25 years before she was named chair of the Sealaska Board of Trustees in 2011. She passed away in January 2026.

The Judson Brown Conference Room honors Shaakakooni Hinleiych, who was Ch’áak (eagle) from the Dakl’aweidi (killer whale) clan. Born in Haines in 1912, Brown was the first Native person to graduate from an integrated public school in Alaska. After winning the election in Haines in 1932, he became the first Native mayor of a mixed-race city in Alaska. He also served as a law clerk, deputy marshal, and supervisor at the Pacific Maritime Association. He continuously fought to protect Native lands through his position as the grand secretary of the Alaska Native Brotherhood and fostered important connections between the Tlingit and Native Hawai’ians.

Brown served on the Sealaska Corporation Board of Directors, Sealaska Heritage Institute Board of Trustees Institute of Alaska Native Arts Board of Directors. He was also a member of the Central Council Tlingit and Haida Indians Tribes of Alaska before his passing in 1998.

Sealaska Heritage Institute is a tribal organization founded in 1980 to perpetuate and enhance Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian cultures of Southeast Alaska. SHI also conducts scientific and public policy research that promotes Alaska Native arts, cultures, history and education statewide. The institute is governed by a Board of Trustees and guided by a Council of Traditional Scholars, a Native Artist Committee and a Southeast Regional Language Committee.

CONTACT: Kathy Dye, Deputy Director of Publications and Communications, Kathy.Dye@Sealaska.com

Caption: Top photo: Marlene Johnson, Slath Jaa Klaa/Láooti. Bottom photo: Judson Brown, Shaakakooni Hinleiych. Note: News outlets are welcome to use these photos for coverage of this story. For higher-res versions, contact kathy.dye@sealaskaheritage.com.