2019 – Advocacy,
Elizabeth Peratrovich was a civil rights activist in Alaska. In the 1940s, she was credited with advocacy that gained the passage of the 1945 Alaska Territory Anti-Discrimination Act. The Act was the first anti-discrimination law in the United States, signed well before the federal Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964 and 14 years before Alaska became the 49th state.
On February 6, 1988, the Alaska State Legislature established February 16 (the day of the 1945 signing of the Anti-Discrimination Act) as “Elizabeth Peratrovich Day” to honor her contributions “for her courageous, unceasing efforts to eliminate discrimination and bring about equal rights in Alaska.” In 1992, Gallery B of the Alaska House of Representatives chamber in the Alaska State Capitol was renamed in her honor. In 2018, Elizabeth was chosen by the National Women’s History Project as one of its honorees for Women’s History Month in the United States.
Mike Peratrovich (Tlingit) from James Shield on Vimeo.