Editing Totem pole (section)

===Shame/ridicule pole===
Poles used for public ridicule are usually called shame poles, and were created to embarrass individuals or groups for their unpaid debts or when they did something wrong.<ref name=Feldman13/><ref name=Keithahn>{{Cite book | author=Edward Keithahn | title = Monuments in Cedar | publisher = Superior Publishing Co. | year = 1963 | location =Seattle, Washington | page= 56 | url = http://www.alaskool.org/projects/traditionalife/monumentsincedar/MIC_three.htm }}</ref> The poles are often placed in prominent locations and removed after the debt is paid or the wrong is corrected. Shame pole carvings represent the person being shamed.<ref name=Feldman13/><ref>Sheldon Jackson Museum, Sitka, AK. Accessed 23 August 2011</ref> 
[[File:Top of Seward Pole.jpg|right|thumb|The original Seward Pole, carved {{Circa|1885}}, shamed [[William H. Seward]]]]
One famous shame pole is the Seward Pole at the [[Saxman Totem Park]] in [[Saxman, Alaska]]. Originally carved in the {{Circa|1885}}, the pole shamed former U.S. Secretary of State [[William H. Seward]] for his "lack of recognition of Indigenous peoples at an early point in Alaska’s U.S. history," as well as not reciprocating the generosity of his Tlingit hosts following an 1869 [[potlatch]] given in his honor.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2018-02-13 |title=The Seward Shame Pole: Countering Alaska’s Sesquicentennial - Alaska Historical Society |url=https://alaskahistoricalsociety.org/about-ahs/special-projects/150treaty/150th-resource-library/new-articles/the-seward-shame-pole-countering-alaskas-sesquicentennial/ |access-date=2023-08-24 |language=en-US}}</ref> The figure's red-painted nose and ears may symbolize drunkenness or Seward's stinginess.<ref>Garfield and Forrest, pp. 55–56.</ref><ref>Kramer, ''Alaska’s Totem Poles'', p. 10.</ref> In the 1940s, a second iteration of the pole was built by Tlingit men enrolled in the [[Civilian Conservation Corps]]; according to the [[Alaska Historical Society]], the United States government was unaware that the pole's intent was to shame Seward until after the completion of the project.<ref name=":0" /> In 2014, this second pole began to fall apart; a renewed version was carved in 2017 by local Tlingit artist Stephen Jackson, who combined [[Political cartoon|political caricature]] with [[Northwest Coast art|Northwest Coast]] style.<ref name=":0" />

Another example of the shame pole is the Three Frogs pole on [[Chief Shakes]] Island, at [[Wrangell, Alaska]]. This pole was erected by Chief Shakes to shame the Kiks.ádi [[clan]] into repaying a debt incurred for the support of three Kiks.ádi women who were allegedly cohabiting with three slaves in Shakes's household. When the Kiks.ádi leaders refused to pay support for the women, Shakes commissioned a pole with carvings of three frogs, which represented the crest of the Kiks.ádi clan. It is not known if the debt was ever repaid.<ref>Barbeau, "Totem Poles: According to Crests and Topics", p. 401.</ref> The pole stands next to the Chief Shakes Tribal House in Wrangell. The pole's unique crossbar shape has become popularly associated with the town of Wrangell, and continues to be used as part of the ''Wrangell Sentinel'' newspaper's masthead.<ref>{{cite web| title=Wrangell Sentinel|publisher =Wrangell Sentinel | date =21 November 2014 |url=http://www.wrangellsentinel.com/|access-date=21 November 2014}}</ref>

In 1942, the U.S. Forest Service commissioned a pole to commemorate [[Alexander Andreyevich Baranov|Alexander Baranof]], the Russian governor and Russian American Company manager, as a civilian works project. The pole's original intent was to commemorate a peace treaty between the Russians and Tlingits that the governor helped broker in 1805. George Benson, a Sitka carver and craftsman, created the original design. The completed version originally stood in Totem Square in downtown [[Sitka, Alaska]].<ref name=Haugland>{{Citation | author =Shannon Haugland | title = Totem Square, Pole to get Safety Upgrades | newspaper = [[Sitka Sentinel]] | date = 21 September 2010 }} {{subscription required}}</ref><ref name=Sutton-USA>{{cite journal | author=Anne Sutton | title = Top man on totem pole could get his clothes back | journal =USA Today | publisher =Gannett Co. | date =7 June 2008| url =http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-06-07-3923207711_x.htm| access-date =3 December 2014}}</ref> When Benson and other Sitka carvers were not available to do the work, the U.S. Forest Service had [[Civilian Conservation Corps|CCC]] workers carve the pole in Wrangell, Alaska. Because Sitka and Wrangell native groups were rivals, it has been argued that the Wrangell carvers may have altered Benson's original design.<ref name=Sutton-USA/><ref name=JPoulsen>{{Citation | title = 'Going Down' photo caption | newspaper = [[Sitka Sentinel]] | date = 20 October 2010   
 }}. {{subscription required}}</ref> For unknown reasons, the Wrangell carvers depicted the Baranov figure without clothes.<ref name=Sutton>{{Citation| author =Anne Sutton| title =Top man on totem pole could get his clothes back| newspaper =[[Anchorage Daily News]]| date =8 June 2008| url =http://www.adn.com/life/native_culture/story/430035.html| access-date =8 December 2009| url-status =dead| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20090428182322/http://www.adn.com/life/native_culture/story/430035.html| archive-date =28 April 2009}}</ref> Following a [[Sitka Tribe of Alaska]]-sponsored removal ceremony, the pole was lowered due to safety concerns on October 20, 2010, using funds from the Alaska Dept. of Health and Social Services. The ''Sitka Sentinel'' reported that while standing, it was "said to be the most photographed totem [pole] in Alaska".<ref name=Haugland/> The pole was re-erected in Totem Square in 2011.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.alaskapublic.org/2011/11/30/controversial-totem-pole-returns-to-sitka-square/ |title=Controversial Totem Pole Returns to Sitka Square |last=Ronco |first=Ed |date=November 30, 2011 |website=Alaska Public Media }}</ref>

On March 24, 2007, a shame pole was erected in [[Cordova, Alaska]], that includes the inverted and distorted face of former [[Exxon]] CEO [[Lee Raymond]]. The pole represents the unpaid debt of $5 billion in punitive damages that a federal court in [[Anchorage, Alaska]], determined Exxon owes for its role in causing the [[Exxon Valdez oil spill]] in [[Prince William Sound]].<ref>{{Citation | title = Shame Pole Mocking Exxon is Planted in Cordova | newspaper = [[Anchorage Daily News]] | date = 25 March 2007 }}</ref><ref name=Rothberg>{{Citation | author =Peter Rothberg  | title = Exxon's Shame | newspaper = [[The Nation]]  | date = 27 March 2007 | url = http://www.thenation.com/blogs/exxons-shame | access-date =21 November 2014}}</ref>