[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Pages 3146-3147]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               REMEMBERING ELIZABETH AND ROY PERATROVICH

 Ms. MURKOWSKI. Madam President, I wish to honor Elizabeth 
Peratrovich, her husband Roy Peratrovich, and their relentless pursuit 
of equal civil rights in the territory of Alaska. Elizabeth and Roy 
lived and worked long before Alaska became a State and still longer 
before the United States passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. February 
16, 2014 marked the 25th year Alaskans celebrated Elizabeth and the 
passage of the Alaska Anti-Discrimination Act of 1945. I would like to 
take a moment today, to once again, share the Peratroviches' story and 
reflect on the legacy of their work.
  Elizabeth, a member of the Lukaaxadi clan, in the Raven moiety of the 
Tlingit tribe, was born on Independence Day in Petersburg, AK in 1911. 
One year later, Alaska gained a territorial legislature in Juneau made 
up of 8 senators and 16 representatives, none of whom were Alaska 
Native. In the same year a group of Alaska Natives from Southeast 
formed the Alaska Native Brotherhood to advocate for a right to U.S. 
citizenship for Alaska Natives. In 1915, Alaska Native women came 
together and established the Alaska Native Sisterhood to work alongside 
the brotherhood. Although Elizabeth was very young for the creation of 
these bodies, each came to play a great role in her fight for equal 
rights.
  Many Americans are familiar with the history of discrimination and 
presence of Jim Crow laws at this time in the South. Probably fewer 
Americans are familiar with the existence of similar discrimination 
towards Alaska Natives. In Juneau, Alaskan Natives were restricted to 
purchasing homes in only certain parts of town and their children 
restricted to segregated Indian schools. Local business displayed signs 
in their store fronts reading, ``No Natives Allowed,'' ``We cater to 
white trade only,'' or ``No Dogs, No Natives'' and restaurant signs 
read, ``Meals at all hours--All white help.'' The U.S. Congress granted 
citizenship to Native Americans in 1924, yet signs like these and the 
discrimination they perpetrated endured.
  Elizabeth grew up and attended school in Petersburg, Sitka and 
Ketchikan. After graduating she continued her education at the Western 
College of Education in Bellingham, WA. In 1931, Elizabeth married Roy 
Peratrovich, a fellow Western College student and Tlingit from Klawock, 
AK. In 1940, Roy was elected to be the Alaska Native Brotherhood's camp 
president and the following year Elizabeth was elected grand president 
of the Alaska Native Sisterhood.
  Together, with their young family, the Peratroviches moved to Juneau, 
only to experience discrimination against Alaska Natives first-hand. 
Elizabeth and Roy picked out a home together and tried to purchase it, 
but once the owners realized that the Peratroviches were Alaska Native, 
they would not sell. Their children felt unwelcome at school. Their 
close family friend, Henrietta Newton, who was not Alaska Native 
herself but married an Alaska Native man, was told by a local beauty 
parlor, ``I'm sorry we don't cater to Indian trade.'' When an Alaska 
Native child had an altercation with the law, their local newspaper 
published it as front page news. Discrimination towards Alaska Natives 
remained prevalent. On December 30, 1941, in their capacities as 
president and grand president of the Alaska Native Brother and 
Sisterhoods, Roy and Elizabeth wrote a letter to Ernest Gruening, then 
Governor of the Territory of Alaska. The letter drew attention to the 
discrepancy between Alaska Natives paying taxes for a public school 
system from which their children were excluded and also between Alaska 
Native men fighting in World War II, who upon return were denied rights 
that other locals enjoyed. Thus began their public pursuit of equal 
rights for all people in Alaska.
  Elizabeth began to call upon her friends and family to involve 
themselves in the anti-discrimination movement. She recruited women to 
meet with a Senator from Nome in order to express to him what it felt 
like to be discriminated against, left out of the United Service 
Organization, and forced to read signs in local businesses

[[Page 3147]]

barring them from entry. Elizabeth and Roy met with Governor Gruening 
to strategize their movement, and then traveled around Native 
communities bringing with them sample anti-discrimination legislation 
from the lower 48. In 1943, State Senator Norman Walker introduced an 
act that would provide full and equal accommodations to all people 
within the Territory of Alaska. The vote was defeated, but the 
Peratroviches were not.
  In 1945, the antidiscrimination bill was reintroduced. It passed the 
house and moved to the senate. The gallery was full, the doors were 
open and spectators filled the halls outside. Once on the senate floor, 
the debate began. As senators stood to speak, Elizabeth, along with 
many other community members listened. They listened as one Senator 
rose to say:

       Far from being brought closer together, which will result 
     from this bill, the races should be kept further apart. 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 looked on as another senator claimed, ``Mixed breeds are 
the source of trouble, it is they only who wish to associate with the 
whites,'' and as a church leader declared that it would take at least 
30 years before Alaska Natives were equal to white men, Roy rose to 
speak on behalf of the bill noting that Governor Gruening recognized 
discrimination in Alaska. He addressed the legislature with these 
words, ``Either you are for discrimination or you are against it 
accordingly as you vote on this bill.''
  Once debate on the bill concluded, the public was given a chance to 
express their views in front of the legislature and a crowd gathered 
that day. Given this chance, Elizabeth took it. Once on the senate 
floor, Elizabeth sat next to the president of the senate, where she 
addressed the predominantly white and all-male body of legislators. ``I 
would not have expected that I, who am barely out of savagery, would 
have to remind gentlemen with five thousand years of recorded 
civilization behind them of our Bill of Rights.''
  When asked if she thought the bill would eliminate discrimination, 
Elizabeth replied:

       Do your laws against larceny and even murder prevent those 
     crimes? 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.

  As Elizabeth finished speaking, the gallery broke out in applause. 
The senate voted and passed the anti-discrimination bill by a vote of 
11 to 5. On February 16, 1945, Elizabeth earned her spot as our fighter 
with velvet gloves, and as she's respectfully remembered in our State, 
Alaska's Martin Luther King.

                          ____________________