Elizabeth Peratrovich

Early life and education Elizabeth Wanamaker was born on July 4, 1911, in Petersburg, Alaska, as a member of the Lukaax̱.ádi clan in the Raven moiety of the Tlingit nation and with the Tlingit name of Ḵaax̲gal.aat ("person who packs for themselves"). Andrew was a fisherman and Presbyterian lay minister. The Wanamakers raised Elizabeth in Petersburg, Klawock, and Ketchikan, Alaska. Wanamaker graduated from Ketchikan High School, and then attended Sheldon Jackson College in Sitka, and the Western College of Education in Bellingham, Washington (now part of Western Washington University). Later life On December 15, 1931, Elizabeth Wanamaker married Roy Scott Peratrovich (1908–1989), also a Tlingit, of mixed Native and Serb descent, who worked in a cannery. They had three children: daughter Loretta Montgomery (c. 1942) and sons Roy Jr. (c. 1934) and Frank (c. 1938). The family lived in Klawock, where Roy was elected to four terms as village mayor. Elizabeth Peratrovich was a member of the Presbyterian Church. Later, they moved to Denver, Colorado, where Roy studied banking and finance at the University of Denver and credit procedure at the Central Bank and Trust Company in Denver. Elizabeth Peratrovich died of breast cancer, on December 1, 1958, at the age of 47. She is buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Juneau, Alaska, alongside her husband Roy who died in 1989. Besides being an engineer Roy Peratrovich Jr. is also a Native artist. Her younger son, Frank, worked as the Area Tribal Operations Officer for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Juneau. ==Activism==

In 1941, while living in Juneau, Alaska, Elizabeth and Roy Peratrovich encountered discrimination in their attempts to secure housing and gain access to public facilities. They petitioned the territorial governor, Ernest Gruening, to prohibit public places from posting signs such as "No Natives Allowed," "We cater to white trade only," "No Dogs, No Natives,"... that were common in Alaska during this time. With the help of others, Elizabeth and Roy Peratrovich drafted and introduced an anti-discrimination bill in 1941, though it failed to pass. Nevertheless, they persevered: as high-ranking representatives of the Alaska Native Brotherhood and the Alaska Native Sisterhood, the Peratrovichs used their unique position to bring attention to the issue of discrimination and to lobby Alaska lawmakers, the governor, and others to advocate for the passage of anti-discrimination legislation. In reaction to the bill, Juneau territorial 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?" Elizabeth Peratrovich responded:The Senate voted 11–5 for House Resolution 14, providing "full and equal accommodations, facilities, and privileges to all citizens in places of public accommodations within the jurisdiction of the Territory of Alaska; to provide penalties for violation". Peratrovich's testimony has been widely credited as a decisive factor in the passage of the historic Anti-Discrimination Act of 1945. In 1992, Fran Ulmer, who represented Juneau in the Alaska House of Representatives (and who later became lieutenant governor of Alaska), said the following about Peratrovich's testimony:She talked about herself, her friends, her children, and the cruel treatment that consigned Alaska Natives to a second-class existence. She described to the Senate what it means to be unable to buy a house in a decent neighborhood because Natives aren't allowed to live there. She described how children feel when they are refused entrance into movie theaters, or see signs in shop windows that read "No dogs or Natives allowed." In 1988, the Alaska State Legislature declared February 16 as "Elizabeth Peratrovich Day". ==Legacy and honors==

• In April, 1988, Alaska Governor Steve Cowper established April 21 as Elizabeth Peratrovich Day "for her courageous, unceasing efforts to eliminate discrimination and bring about equal rights in Alaska." The date was later changed to February 16 in observance of the day in 1945 on which the Anti-Discrimination Act was approved (Alaska Statutes 44.12.065). • The Elizabeth Peratrovich Award was established in her honor by the Alaska Native Sisterhood. • In 1992, Gallery B of the Alaska House of Representatives chamber in the Alaska State Capitol was renamed in her honor. in downtown Anchorage was named for Elizabeth and Roy Peratrovich. It encompasses the lawn surrounding Anchorage's former city hall, with a small amphitheater in which concerts and other performances are held. • In 2009, For the Rights of All: Ending Jim Crow in Alaska, a documentary about Peratrovich's groundbreaking civil rights advocacy, premiered on October 22 at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention in Anchorage. The film, scheduled to air as a PBS documentary film in November 2009, was produced by Blueberry Productions, Inc. and was primarily written by Jeffry Lloyd Silverman of Anchorage. • In 2017, the theater in Ketchikan's Southeast Alaska Discovery Center was named in honor of Elizabeth Peratrovich, and a companion exhibit exploring her role in the struggle for Alaska Native civil rights was unveiled. • In 2018, Elizabeth Peratrovich was chosen by the National Women's History Project as one of its honorees for Women's History Month in the United States. • In March 2019, her obituary was added to The New York Times as part of their "Overlooked No More" series. • In December 2019, a 4-story apartment building called Elizabeth Place, named after Peratrovich, opened in downtown Anchorage. • In January 2020, Peratrovich was selected as one of the 20for2020 highlighting extraordinary accomplishments by women. • In July 2020, a new mural was unveiled in honor of Peratrovich in Petersburg. • On December 30, 2020, a Google Doodle in the United States and Canada honored Elizabeth Peratrovich. The Doodle was drawn by Tlingit artist Michaela Goade. • In early November 2021 the PBS Kids' animated educational series Molly of Denali aired an episode called Molly & Elizabeth that depicts the primary characters in the series, Molly Mabray and Tooey Ookami, remembering the legacy of Peratrovitch. ==See also==