‘We Are Part Of The United States’: The 1st People Counted For The 2020 Census

In the fishing village of Toksook Bay, Alaska, the 2020 census officially began last month. The national head count starts in remote Alaska in January because the frozen ground makes it easier to reach the distant communities.

Older residents still remember when they moved their homes, pulled by dog sled, from neighboring Nightmute, Alaska, to make what was once a fishing camp into a permanent settlement. Now dogs abound, but the moving of goods is mainly done with snow machines and all-terrain vehicles.

Lizzie Chimiugak Nenguryarr, an elder of Toksook Bay who recently celebrated what she considered to be at least her 90th birthday, was the first person counted for the 2020 census.

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“the true test of civilization is not the census, 

not the size of the cities,

nor the crops –  no, 

but the kind of man the country turns out.”

-ralph waldo emerson