Elizabeth Peratrovich was a civil rights activist who lived in Southeast Alaska. She was instrumental in drafting and introducing an anti-discrimination bill in Alaska, nearly 20 years before the Civil Rights Act. She is celebrated every February 16th. That’s the day in 1945 that the Alaska Anti-Discrimination Act was approved. 

This year, the Haines school pulled out all of the stops for Elizabeth Peratrovich Day.

As the sound of drums reverberates off of the high school gym walls, a group of 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders dance in a circle in honor of Elizabeth Peratrovich. It is one of several performances that include songs from the younger grades and high schoolers, and a preview of a play featuring students in middle school. 

Born July 4th, 1911, Elizabeth Peratrovich was a civil rights activist who was instrumental in the drafting and introduction of an anti-discrimination bill in Alaska. Prior to the bill, public discrimination against Native Alaskans was commonplace. Passed in 1945, nearly 20 years before the Civil Rights Act, the Anti-Discrimination Act provided full and equal accommodations, facilities, and privileges to all citizens in places of public accommodations within the jurisdiction of the Territory of Alaska. Elizabeth Peratrovich Day was established in April 1988 by then Governor Steve Cowper and later changed to February 16th in observance of the day in 1945 on which the Alaska Anti-Discrimination Act was approved. 

Haines School Principal Lilly Boron shared why the day is so important to the students of Haines.

Boron: “I think Elizabeth Peratrovich day is a day that we honor someone from the Tlingit culture who is a hero in my mind because she stood for social justice at a time when it was not popular to do so, and she did so with grace and dignity. And I think Elizabeth Peratrovich of it really exemplifies the qualities that we stand for as a school. And we want to honor her as a Tlingit as a leader as an Alaskan. And just as all that embodies what we want to see in our students, as citizens of this community and of our state.”

Working alongside Principal Boron in organizing the assembly is Haines Indigenous Education Coordinator Natalie Benassi. Benassi agrees with Boron on the importance of Elizabeth Peratrovich Day. She says the celebration takes months of preparation.

Benassi: “It takes so much to put it together. There are so many moving parts. And the hardest part for me is getting everybody; everybody’s so busy, we pack a lot into our day here at the school, these kids are never idle. If there’s a 30-minute block after school, we will fill it with something.

I think I’ve been doing this for seven years. And each year it has just grown and grown and grown and grown bigger, bigger.

…on their first day back from, you know, summer break, the teachers will be like, What are you planning, I’ve got great songs of this here, just so you know. So even the teachers are in on it, and just allotting time and space for the native sisterhood to come in. And Deb camp makes the vests for the kids. Patches, so cut the little patches out, and they sew them on. And that’s in the third grade. And then the fourth grade, they add the buttons, and in the fifth grade, they make a headband. So they looked really great. They looked fabulous. It was wonderful. They were so good. I looked and I thought cool. Somebody from Chilcott dancers is here. And then I thought, No, that’s a fifth grader. Oh, man, they look fabulous. And, we give a little speech about the regalia and what it means and how the piece of them’s reflection of them. So they take great pride in it.”

The keynote speaker for the Haines assembly is award-winning author Annie Boochever, whose book, Fighter in Velvet Gloves: Alaska Civil Rights Hero Elizabeth Peratrovich, has become a mainstay in Alaskan libraries. Boochever also wrote the play that the students would be performing Thursday evening. 

Boochever says she is gratified that Peratrovich has grown in recognition in recent years – thanks in part to her writing and greater awareness of younger generations.

Boochever: “I think she really appeals to young people because she was, you know, subjected to a lot of discrimination and injustice. And she really stood her ground. But she did it with grace and dignity. And I think that’s inspiring to young people. And they can really relate to that. And it you know, it’s like Martin Luther King, it’s kind of that idea. And, since then, I think it’s bigger than that. I, I think she’s symbolic of the Native Americans’ experience nationwide. And I hope she becomes better known outside of Alaska because she’s definitely a hero of not, she should be in the rest of the nation, too.”

The assembly ends with some jazzy songs by high schoolers Luke and JC Davis, Maddox Rogers, Willow Bryant, Avari Getchell, and Sophia Sutcliffe Diaz, led by choir teacher Matt Davis.