"The Fourth of July, our Independence Day, is a time to recognize the American heroes -- from the founders to soldiers who have devoted, risked or lost their lives in the name of our freedom. It's an especially important day this year for Alaskans as we celebrate the 100th anniversary of Elizabeth Peratrovich's birth. Quite appropriately, Elizabeth was born on Independence Day.

There are few names in Alaska's history that exemplify progress and lasting, timeless impact more than Elizabeth Peratrovich. She is remembered as one of the greatest civil rights activists and female leaders we have ever known. Elizabeth and her husband, Roy Peratrovich, are to the Native peoples of Alaska what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks are to African-Americans.

Elizabeth, a member of the Lukaaxádi clan, in the Raven moiety of the Tlingit tribe, was born in Petersburg in 1911. It was a time when there was little difference between the Jim Crow segregation laws in the South and the discrimination experienced by Alaska Natives in our own state. Elizabeth married Klawock Tlingit Roy Peratrovich, and the young couple moved to Juneau. Their hearts sank when they learned in their new hometown they were prohibited from purchasing a house because they were Native. Unthinkable to many of us today, they encountered shop signs that read, "No Natives Allowed" and "No Dogs or Indians.""

Get the Story:
Sen. Lisa Murkowski: Elizabeth Peratrovich: an Alaska hero (The Anchorage Daily News 7/4)