Ada Blackjack
1898–1983 · Iñupiat (Alaska) · Modern Era
Known for: Sole survivor of a 1921 Arctic expedition—an Inuit woman who survived alone on Wrangel Island for two years by teaching herself to hunt
Ada was an Iñupiat seamstress who joined a 1921 expedition to Wrangel Island. When the supply ship failed to arrive, three men left for help and vanished. The fourth died of scurvy while Ada nursed him alone.
She survived by teaching herself to shoot and trap—skills she'd never learned. She was rescued in August 1923 after two years alone. Hailed briefly as a hero, then forgotten, she spent most of her life in poverty in Alaska.
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