Women's History Month: Elizabeth Wanamaker Peratrovich
The Indigenous Woman of the Week is Elizabeth Wanamaker Peratrovich, a Tlingit Nation member and one of the most influential Native American activists of the early 20th century. Following her birth in 1911, Elizabeth was adopted as a baby. She grew up facing discrimination from her white peers in the Alaskan territory where she lived.
Native Americans were frequently barred from entering businesses that didn’t allow Indigenous peoples into their establishments, from living in certain areas, and were prevented from entering certain hospitals. Typically, most Native Americans could only send their children to Indian schools at this time, and Elizabeth attended one of the only integrated high schools in the area.
She moved to Juneau in 1941 with her husband Roy, where she was the president of the Alaska Native Sisterhood. That year, fed up with the discrimination they experienced for being Native American, she wrote to the Governor urging him to do something about the ongoing discrimination and oppression of Native Alaskans. They worked together and began a campaign to have an Anti-Discrimination bill in Alaska. The bill was sent to the State Legislature in 1945, where it passed both the House and the Senate. Alaska’s Anti-Discrimination Law of 1945 set a precedent for civil rights in the United States, and none of it would have been possible without Elizabeth Wanamaker-Peratrovich!
Article by Regan Lenihan
References
Weingroff, Richard F. Who Is Elizabeth Peratrovich? The Story Behind the Country’s First Anti-Discrimination Law. U.S Department of Transportation: Federal Highway Administration (web). https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/highwayhistory/peratrovich.cfm. Last Updated: 01/12/2021.
Portrait of Elizabeth Peratrovich. Photo courtesy of Alaska State Archives