The Alaska State Archives has digitized and placed online historic documents related to the lives and work of Elizabeth and Roy Peratrovich, who are often remembered for their actions toward the passage of the Anti-Discrimination Act of 1945. The State Archives has placed these documents online for Elizabeth Peratrovich Day on Feb. 16, which the Alaska State Legislature established in 1988 to honor Peratrovich “for her courageous, unceasing efforts” to confront discrimination and bring about equal rights laws in Alaska.
The material comes from Governor Ernest Gruening’s papers and amounts to 65 pages of correspondence and documents concerning Elizabeth and Roy Peratrovich between 1943 and 1946. During this time, Elizabeth and Roy Peratrovich served as Grand Presidents of the Alaska Native Brotherhood and Alaska Native Sisterhood. These materials document their general work as Native leaders, but also their efforts to address civil and human rights for Alaska Natives. One document includes the Territorial Attorney General’s 19-page legal opinion about the practice of segregated schooling in Alaska, which occurred at that time. This and other responses from the Attorney General came about from Roy Peratrovich writing the Attorney General and requesting a legal explanation about segregated schooling.
Correspondence and papers concerning Elizabeth and Roy Peratrovich as held by Gov. Ernest Gruening, 1943-1946, can be viewed here: http://vilda.alaska.edu/cdm/ref/collection/cdmg41/id/973
Digitized copy of the Anti-Discrimination Act, known as House Bill 14, Chapter 2 can be viewed here: http://vilda.alaska.edu/cdm/ref/collection/cdmg41/id/543.
