DECEMBER 1, 1958

TLINGIT ACTIVIST ḴAAX̲GAL.AAT (ELIZABETH PERATROVICH) DIED

Born on July 4, 1911, in Petersburg, Alaska (AK), Elizabeth’s Tlingit name meant “Person who packs for themselves.” She attended Ketchikan High School, Sheldon Jackson College, and Western College of Education [now Western Washington (WA) University]. In 1941, living in Juneau where her husband, also Tlingit, led the AK Native Brotherhood and Elizabeth was grand president, AK Native Sisterhood, they encountered wide-spread anti-Native prejudice. As AK Natives were fighting for the U.S., she complained to the governor. With his support, Elizabeth’s efforts led to his signing, on February 16, 1945, of the AK Anti-Discrimination Act which preceded by 10 years both Brown v. Board of Education & the Federal Civil Rights Act of 1956. Elizabeth died December 1, 1958, in Seattle, WA. “Elizabeth Peratrovich Day” is celebrated in AK annually on February 16^th. In 2020, the U.S. Mint issued a $1 Sacagawea coin with her image, name of the Act, and symbol of her Tlingit Raven moiety on the reverse.

Sources: 
Edy Rodewald, “Elizabeth Peratrovich Day Is February 16,” Keep It Sacred: National Native Network, 2/2011.  Retrieved 6/8/2019, Keepitsacred.Itcmi.Org/2016/02/Elizabeth-Peratrovich-Day-Is-February-16/
Richard H. Weingroff, “Who is Elizabeth Peratrovich? Story Behind the Country’s First Anti-discrimination Law,” Federal Highway Administration.  Retrieved 1/18/2024, https://highways.dot.gov/highway-history/general-highway-history/who-elizabeth-peratrovich-story-behind-countrys-first-anti
Wikipedia
Photo:  Author and date unknown.  Courtesy Alaska State Archives Collection ID Po1-3294.