Civil rights in Alaska

 Here is an excerpt from my travel journal about my visit to Juneau, Alaska, two years ago while on an Alaskan cruise. 

From our naturalist presenter Mary Amanda, I learned the treatment of Native Americans in Alaska was comparable to the treatment of Blacks in the lower 48. They were completely excluded from most public spaces, including restaurants, hotels, stores, and movie theaters. She even showed us signs that said "no Natives; no dogs." A brave educated and accomplished woman, Elizabeth Peratrovich,  member of the Tlingit nation, championed the cause of equality and invested her energy and resources to help pass civil rights legislation for Native Americans in 1945, 20 years before the lower 48 decided to do the right thing and past civil rights laws. She fought against powerful well-connected voraciously bigoted white supremacists in the legislature and triumphed after more than one try.

These individuals had inhabited the land long before the arrival of Russians and Americans, and yet they had to fight for equal treatment under the law.

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If Alaska had been granted statehood in 1945, it is likely that Native Americans would have faced a further 20-year delay in attaining civil rights within their own nation.