Elizabeth Peratrovich, a Tlingit woman born in Petersburg, had a hand in the passage of the country's first anti-discrimination law.
Elizabeth Wanamaker Peratrovich, born in the Southeast Alaska town of Petersburg on July 4, 1911, often is hailed as a heroine in the fight to end discrimination against Alaska Natives. When she saw a sign posted on the Douglas Inn across from Juneau in 1941 that said, "No Natives Allowed," she wrote to territorial Gov. Ernest Gruening.
"The proprietor of Douglas Inn does not seem to realize that our Native boys are just as willing as the white boys to lay down their lives to protect the freedom that he enjoys," she wrote. The sign was "an outrage."
Even though Alaska's Native people served with distinction during World War II, segregation continued to run rampant. Alaska Natives had separate entrances, designated seating areas, and different bathrooms than whites in public areas.
An incident in Nome a few years later again brought the issue of discrimination to Gov. Gruening's attention. The western Alaska gold-rush town boasted around 1,500 people, with Alaska Natives comprising about half that population.
On a fall evening in 1944 a lovely brunette with clear olive-colored skin walked into The Dreamland and sat with her date, a white U.S. Army sergeant.
Within minutes the movie theater's manager rushed to their seats. He told the girl to move to the other side of the aisle.
Her date told her to stay put.
The manager then called the chief of police, who arrived shortly thereafter and forcibly removed the young lady from the theater. He shoved her out into the bitter-cold Arctic night.
Her crime?
Alberta Schenck had bucked the long-held status quo and dared to sit in the "White Only" section of the theater. Although her father was Caucasian, a mixture of English and Irish, her mother was Native.
With the help of Marvin "Muktuk" Marston, founder of the Alaska Territorial Guard, Alberta composed a telegram explaining what had happened and sent it to Gruening.
Soon the governor wired Nome Mayor Edward Anderson and asked about discrimination practices against Natives. He requested the mayor investigate the matter involving Alberta and report back by wire.
A few hours later, the mayor sent the following message to the governor:
"A mistake has been made. It won't happen again."
Just as Alberta was defying segregation in Nome, Frank Peratrovich and Andrew Hope, both Tlingits, won seats in the territorial legislature. And when the legislature met that fall, a law banning segregation signs was at the top of the agenda. Alberta's story was among many testimonies about the treatment of Natives under widely accepted segregation practices in public spaces.
"Only an Indian can know how it feels to be discriminated against," testified Roy Peratrovich during a Senate hearing on the equal rights issue on Feb. 6, 1945.
"Either you are for discrimination, or you are against it," depending on how each legislator votes on this bill, he said.
One opponent, Senator Allen Shattuck, asked, "Who are these people, barely out of savagery, who want to associate with us whites with 5,000 years of recorded civilization behind us?"
Following two hours of debate, Elizabeth Peratrovich testified during the public comment period.
"I would not have expected that I, who am barely out of savagery, would have to remind the gentlemen with 5,000 years of recorded civilization behind them of our Bill of Rights," she said.
Elizabeth then talked about the pain she felt when she was turned away from public spaces because she was Native. And the humiliation she suffered when ushered into "Natives Only" areas.
She also reasoned with the legislative body that while a law might not eliminate discrimination, it could help curb it.
"Do your laws against larceny and even murder eliminate those crimes?" she asked. "No law will eliminate crimes but, at least, you as legislators, can assert to the world that you recognize the evil of the present situation and speak your intent to help us overcome discrimination."
The country's first anti-discrimination act passed with a vote of 11 to 5, and Gov. Gruening signed it into law on Feb. 16, 1945.
This column features tidbits found while researching Alaska's colorful past for Aunt Phil's Trunk, a five-book Alaska history series written by Laurel Downing Bill and her late aunt, Phyllis Downing Carlson. The books, including the newest titled "Pioneers From Alaska's Past," are available at bookstores and gift shops throughout Alaska, as well as online at www.auntphilstrunk.com.
