Historical Records & Elizabeth Peratrovich Day

Every February 16^th the state holiday of Elizabeth Peratrovich Day is observed because of the Civil Rights actions of Elizabeth W. Peratrovich (1911-1958), Tlingit Indian and civic leader from Southeast Alaska. The day is connected to the February 16, 1945 signing of the Anti-Discrimination Act, an Alaskan territorial bill passed which made it illegal to discriminate against individuals because of race.

While many Alaska Natives engaged in Civil Rights actions prior to the Anti-Discrimination Act of 1945 and the holiday commemorates all Alaska Natives involved in the Civil Rights crusade, for many the holiday’s focus centers on Peratrovich’s impassioned speech before the territorial legislature which swayed legislators to vote in favor of passing the Anti-Discrimination Act.

In honor of Elizabeth Peratrovich Day, a letter from our archival collections written by Elizabeth Peratrovich and her husband Roy Peratrovich is provided below. This 1941 co-authored letter, written while Elizabeth was Grand Vice President of the Alaska Native Sisterhood and her husband Grand President of the Alaska Native Brotherhood, called on the territorial governor, Ernest Gruening, to address discrimination in the Juneau-Douglas community and on a state level. Gruening followed this mandate, and worked alongside Roy and Elizabeth Peratrovich and other Alaska Natives toward the eventual passage of the Anti-Discrimination Act in 1945.

Photo Credit: Elizabeth Peratrovich, circa 1945 (in black coat). Photograph by William Paul Jr., in SHI's Digital Collection, courtesy of Ben Paul.

Document Credit: Letter, from Mss 29: ANB Camp 2 Records, Sealaska Heritage Institute.

Sealaska Heritage Institute is a regional nonprofit representing the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian people of Southeast Alaska. Its mission is to perpetuate and enhance Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian cultures.

SCHOLAR DONATES ARCHIVES ON HYDABURG, HAIDA TO SHI

An anthropologist who studied the City of Hydaburg and the Haida history and culture there has donated his field work and doctoral papers to Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI).

Dan Vaughan, Ph.D., spent a decade working in Hydaburg on Prince of Wales Island as a cultural anthropologist for the University of Washington from 1974 to 1984. During that time, he also did work on his dissertation, which was a study of the Haida people in Hydaburg reaching back two-hundred years.

The collection has important research value because it documents decisions people in Hydaburg have made over the last century, said SHI’s Archivist and Collections Manager Zachary Jones.

“These are administrative, political, and even cultural decisions,” Jones said. “There’s a great deal of genealogical data as well, which may well serve people interested in learning more about their family history from Hydaburg or just the general history and culture of the people from Hydaburg.”

The collection includes written documents, such as correspondence and meeting minutes, from Hydaburg dating to the 1920s plus photographs and field work recordings made by Vaughan as he interviewed people. He also recorded people singing and speaking in Haida.

Vaughan donated the collection to SHI because he wanted it to go to an organization that represents Alaska Natives, Jones said.

“He saw a place where he felt they could be cared for appropriately which could service the people of Hydaburg or those interested in that area,” Jones said.

SHI’s collections facility is open to the public and located at Sealaska Plaza in Juneau. The institute employs a full-time staff to care for collections and assist researchers studying Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian cultures.

Sealaska Heritage Institute is a regional nonprofit representing the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian people of Southeast Alaska. Its mission is to perpetuate and enhance Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian cultures.

CONTACT: Zachary Jones, Archivist and Collections Manager, 586-9261

Civil Rights Actions of Alaska Native Brotherhood & Sisterhood Camp 2 in 1940

The detailed history of racial discrimination against Southeast Alaska Natives remains to be written. Fortunately the late Dr. Walter A. Soboleff (1908-2011), an advocate for the advancement for Tlingit culture, saved his correspondence, meeting minutes, and other records while an active and leading member of the Alaska Native Brotherhood (ANB), which served to document the historic civil rights actions of ANB and ANB’s counterpart, the Alaska Native Sisterhood (ANS). The materials he saved, amounting to 37 boxes of historic documents stored at Sealaska Heritage Institute, detail this effort on many levels, and are available to the public for educational research.

Recently, I reviewed the 1939-1945 ANB/ANS Camp 2 meeting minutes ledger. Reading over the joint ANB and ANS meeting for February 12, 1940, I encountered documentation speaking to civil rights actions undertaken in Juneau by ANB and ANS.

Under the direction of ANB Camp 2 President William S. Wanamaker (1889-1944) (Tlingit of the Kiks.ádi Clan), the meeting minutes record Cyril J. Zuboff Sr. (1892-1869) raising the issue of the Juneau Sports Arena refusing to allow Alaska Natives entrance. Minutes then record proposals to address this situation, which included; 1) engaging in efforts that encouraged people from “refraining from patronizing” the arena, 2) the creation of a four member committee (two ANB men and two ANS women) to address the issue, and 3) that this committee “present a written protest at the next [Juneau] Chamber of Commerce meeting.”

These two short pages (provided below), from this old ledger, speak a great deal about the history of civil rights and the reasons ANB and ANS fought for the Anti-Discrimination Act of 1945 and additional efforts.

Sealaska Heritage Institute is a regional nonprofit representing the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian people of Southeast Alaska. Its mission is to perpetuate and enhance Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian cultures. SHI maintains a large collection of archival materials that document the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian cultures.

The Alaska Native Brotherhood’s 1921 Grand Camp Meeting

With the 100 year anniversary of the Alaska Native Brotherhood (ANB) occurring in 2012, many will be reflecting on the history, role, and actions of ANB.

I recently came across the ANB Grand Camp Program for 1921 (scan below). While no minutes from the 1921 meeting have survived (although SHI has published the 1920 ANB minutes), the 1921 program lists the convention’s agenda and the topics discussed. Some of the issues of the day included fishing rights, segregated schooling, civil rights, and discussions on sovereignty and land ownership, such as through a reservation system. The final open forum topic for the third day of the meeting, which poses questions for discussion on the legality and fairness of the judicial system in Alaska towards Alaska Natives, is of particular interest. Scheduled be held after a speech on the civil rights of Alaska Natives presented by Hon. James Wickersham, it reads;

“Open Forum. The tremendous handicap of fair trial by juries composed entirely of White men, through an interpreter, leading to the question; “Would a lone White man consent to a trial by Natives in “Indian Country.”

Such a document provides a glimpse into the history of ANB and the issues of importance to Southeast Alaska Natives nearly 90 years ago.

Credit: Program from the Walter A. Soboleff Papers, Sealaska Heritage Institute.

SHI TO SPONSOR LECTURES FOR NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH

Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) will sponsor a noon lecture series to celebrate Native American Heritage Month in November.

The brown-bag lunch series will focus on the impact of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) which was passed by Congress forty years ago, said SHI President Rosita Worl, adding Tlingit and Haida and Sealaska Corporation also will sponsor a November luncheon in recognition of ANCSA.

Alaska settled its Native land claims in a historic way by founding Native corporations. That was a complete departure from the way Native tribes in the Lower 48 settled land claims by forming reservations, Worl said.

“ANCSA is a very different creature than reservations, “Worl said. “I know Alaskans hear a lot about Native corporations but they might not always understand the history of ANCSA, or how corporations work.”

The lectures will be held from 12-1 pm in the 4^th floor boardroom at Sealaska Plaza in Juneau. The series was sponsored by McDowell Group and Kathy Ruddy of Juneau. Attendees are invited to bring their own lunches.

Lectures 12-1 pm, Sealaska Plaza, 4th Floor Boardroom (bring your own lunch)
Friday, Nov. 4	ANCSA: Good or Bad? Byron Mallott Fellow, First Alaskan Institute
Monday, Nov. 14	The Interrelationships Between Tribes and Corporations Edward Thomas President, Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indians of Alaska
Tuesday, Nov. 15	Alaska Native Corporations and Cultural Models of Sustainability Thomas F. Thornton Senior Research Fellow, Environmental Change and Management, Oxford University
Monday, Nov. 21	The Legal Status of Alaska Native Corporations & Economic Self Determination Chris McNeil President & CEO Sealaska Corporation
Monday, Nov. 28	ANCSA: A Path to Assimilation or Cultural Survival Rosita Worl President, Sealaska Heritage Institute

The Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indians and Sealaska Corporation also will sponsor a noon luncheon on Wednesday, Nov. 16, to recognize the initial Sealaska Board of Directors and Emil Notti, Chair of the Alaska Federation of Natives when Alaska Natives were pursuing the settlement of their aboriginal land claims.

Sealaska Heritage Institute is a regional nonprofit representing the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian people of Southeast Alaska. Its mission is to perpetuate and enhance Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian cultures.

Photo: Guest lecturer Dan Monteith at SHI’s 2010 lecture series in Juneau,