Elizabeth Peratrovich

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Elizabeth W. Peratrovich (pronounced [ˡpɹædɹəvɪtʃ]) (née: Wanamaker) (b. July 4, 1911-d. December 1, 1958) was an important Alaska civil rights activist, working on behalf of equality for Alaska native peoples. She was the single driving force behind the passage of the state's Anti-Discrimination Act of 1945, the first anti-discrimination law in the United States.

She was born July 4, 1911, and was a member of the Lukaax.ádi clan, in the Raven moiety of the Tlingit nation. She was adopted when very young by another Tlingit couple, Andrew and Mary Wanamaker. Andrew was a Presbyterian lay minister. Elizabeth grew up in Petersburg and Ketchikan, Alaska, and attended Sheldon Jackson College in Sitka, and the Western College of Education in Bellingham, Washington (now part of Western Washington University).

In 1931 Elizabeth married Roy Peratrovich, Sr. (1908-1989), a Tlingit cannery worker. They lived in Klawock, Alaska, where Roy served four terms as mayor, and then moved to Juneau when Roy became Grand President of the Alaska Native Brotherhood. At the same time Elizabeth served as Grand President of the allied Alaska Native Sisterhood.

In 1941 the Peratroviches began petitioning for a ban on the "No Natives Allowed" sign then so common at public accommodations in Juneau and elsewhere. The Anti-Discrimination Act was defeated in the Alaska legislature in 1943 but passed in 1945, with Elizabeth's impassioned testimony being decisive. The bill was signed into law by Gov. Ernest Gruening.

Roy and Elizabeth moved to Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada, where Roy pursued an economics degree at St. Francis Xavier University. From there they moved to Denver, Colorado, where Roy studied at the University of Denver. In the 1950s the Peratroviches moved to Oklahoma and then back to Alaska.

Elizabeth Peratrovich died December 1, 1958, of cancer.

On February 6, 1988, the Alaska Legislature established February 16th (the day in 1945 when the Anti-Discrimination Act was signed) as "Elizabeth Peratrovich Day," in order to memorialize the contributions of this admirable woman "for her courageous, unceasing efforts to eliminate discrimination and bring about equal rights in Alaska" (AS 44.12.065).

[edit] References

Oleksa, Michael (1994) "Elizabeth Wanamaker Peratrovich / Kaaxgal.aat; Roy Peratrovich, Sr. /Lk'uteen." In: Haa Kusteeyí, Our Culture: Tlingit Life Stories, ed. by Nora Marks Dauenhauer and Richard Dauenhauer, pp. 525-544. Seattle: University of Washington Press.