Alaska Equal Rights Act of 1945

The law, signed on February 16, 1945, prevents and criminalizes discrimination against individuals in public areas based on race.

[5] In Ketchikan, Alaska attorney, William Paul (Tlingit), won a case allowing children of mixed heritage to attend public school.

[10] In 1942, Gruening spoke to the Director of the Division of Territories and Island Possessions about preparing an anti-discrimination bill.

[12][15] Anderson was also the mayor of Nome, Alaska and was upset that Alberta Schenck had been arrested for protesting discrimination in a segregated movie theater.

Roy Peratrovich (Tlingit) argued that discrimination came from "unscrupulous white men" and that it was "a disgrace to the Democratic form of Government.

"[16] However, the testimony that has largely been considered decisive in passing the bill came from Elizabeth Peratrovich (Tlingit), who spoke for two hours.

In response to territorial senator Allen Shattuck of Juneau, who had earlier asked "Who are these people, barely out of savagery, who want to associate with us whites, with 5,000 years of recorded civilization behind us?," she stated:[18]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.The Daily Alaska Empire printed that her testimony "shamed the opposition into a 'defensive whisper.

[7] The United States Mint commemorated the passage of the law and Elizabeth Peratrovich on the one-dollar coin in 2020.