Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
I'm sitting in an audience of mostly Alaskan Natives, ranging from babes in arms to a
group of older women wearing the blue and white caps of the Alaska Native Sisterhood,
and there is a ripple of laughter and an outbreak of applause.
In 1945 the Territorial Legislature is in session and Elizabeth is seated in the gallery,
knitting and listening, as Alaska territorial senators who, at least in this column, should
and shall remain nameless testify against the Anti-Discrimination Act. One says, “Who
are these people, barely out of savagery, who want to associate with us whites with five
thousand years of recorded civilization behind us?”
“If I said I wasn't just a bit scared,” Elizabeth tells us, “I wouldn't be telling the truth.”
Nevertheless, she puts down her knitting and raises her hand. Gruening tells us that it was
the custom in those territorial days to allow anyone present during a legislative debate to
voice their views.
Elizabeth is recognized, and she says, “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.” She goes on to tell how she and her hus-
band tried to lease a house in Juneau and were refused because they were Indian, and to
recite other instances of discrimination, and she is so beautiful and so intelligent and so
eloquent that her testimony is followed by a burst of applause and the Anti-Discrimination
Act of 1945 passes, 11-5.
It is with difficulty that I bring myself back to the present day. If Diane E. Benson
showed even half the grace, dignity and power that Elizabeth Peratrovich did in 1945, I
don't know how the five nays could look themselves in the mirror the next morning.
Following the performance, which receives sustained applause and a standing ovation,
the actor reoccupies her body and talks a little about the play. Like Elizabeth, Diane is a
Tlingit, and she has been performing this play in schools and workshops across the state
(this is her ninth performance this week alone).
“Kids ask me,” she says, “'Is it true?' All the words of the senators are as true as can be
ascertained from the documentation of the time.” Yes, Elizabeth along with other mem-
bers of the Alaska Native Sisterhood did move the sign. Yes, she knitted while listening to
the testimony. Yes, Elizabeth spoke those words. Diane quotes Elizabeth again—“It is
with words we can change things.”
