Fighter in Velvet Gloves: Alaska Civil Rights Hero Elizabeth Peratrovich
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About this ebook
In 1945, Peratrovich stood before the Alaska Territorial Legislative Session and gave a powerful speech about her childhood and her experiences being treated as a second-class citizen. Her heartfelt testimony led to the passing of the landmark Alaska Anti-Discrimination Act, America’s first civil rights legislation. Today, Alaska celebrates Elizabeth Peratrovich Day every February 16, and she will be honored on the gold one-dollar coin in 2020.
Annie Boochever worked with Elizabeth’s eldest son, Roy Peratrovich Jr., to bring Elizabeth’s story to life in the first book written for young teens on this remarkable Alaska Native woman.
Annie Boochever
Annie Boochever grew up in the days when Alaska was still a territory. People flocked here for a new life and a kind of freedom that wasnt available in the Lower 48. Today Alaska is still a magnet for anyone seeking adventure or just trying to escape, and the characters in Bristol Bay Summer are no exception. The story told in Bristol Bay Summer, seen through the eyes of young teen Zoey Morely, is a fictionalized version of Annie's own experiences in Bristol Bay in 1980. Annie is a retired music teacher, high school English teacher, and school librarian. She has an MFA in Creative Writing for Children and Young Adults from the Northwest Institute of Literary Arts. When not writing, Annie loves to swim, ski, play piano, and garden. She lives in Juneau with her husband and a frightfully intelligent Dutch dog named Zz. Bristol Bay Summer is her first novel.
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Fighter in Velvet Gloves - Annie Boochever
Praise
It’s the kind of book I wish my own children could have read when they were in grade school, a moving story that deserves a place in every school library in this nation. Told in straightforward, readable prose, Fighter in Velvet Gloves is the biography of an Alaska Native woman who, despite adversity, never gave up as she struggled for equality. Both Native and Non-Native young people should be able to identify with Elizabeth Peratrovich, who fought her battles in the far north long before the Civil Rights movement in the American South caught fire.
Joseph Bruchac
Abenaki Author and Storyteller, author of Our Stories Remember
This is a story that deserves to be taught in every school in the country. In a powerfully graceful telling, Annie Boochever, with Roy Peratrovich Jr., paints an indelible portrait of the woman who forged the trail for the civil rights of Alaska’s Native people. The courage of Elizabeth Peratrovich takes its place in the annals of American history as a precursor to the civil rights movement fought in the South decades later.
Debby Dahl Edwardson
National Book Award Finalist, author of My Name is Not Easy and Blessing’s Bead
From its apt title describing Elizabeth Peratrovich to the text outlining Elizabeth’s life and civil rights advocacy, Fighter in Velvet Gloves is a wonderful and much-needed review written especially for young readers. However, young and old will appreciate learning more about Elizabeth beyond her famous and often-quoted testimony supporting the passage of the Anti-Discrimination Act of 1945.
Rosita Worl (Yeidiklasókw and Kaaháni in Tlingit)
Sealaska Heritage Institute president and assistant professor of Anthropology, University of Alaska Southeast
We Tlingit people are sensitive about our stories, yet Annie Boochever has delicately managed this conundrum and, with Roy, has achieved a respectful and deeply honest telling of Elizabeth’s life. What I would have given to have had this inspiring book in my hands in my troubled youth.
Diane Benson
Assistant professor at the Department of Alaska Native Studies & Rural Development, University of Alaska Fairbanks
An inspiring book for our times, bringing to life real challenges overcome, and the enduring need to be vigilant to ensure rights gained are not erased.
Julie Kitka
President of the Alaska Federation of Natives
The ability to understand without condemnation, to accept our friends and enemies in the light of their weaknesses, is something we must acquire early in life in order to find happiness in this world.
— Elizabeth Peratrovich
January 1957
FIGHTER IN VELVET GLOVES
Alaska Civil Rights Hero Elizabeth Peratrovich
University of Alaska Press
Fairbanks
Text © 2019 Annie Boochever
Published by
University of Alaska Press
P.O. Box 756240
Fairbanks, AK 99775-6240
Cover and interior design by UA Press.
Cover image: Elizabeth Peratrovich, We Can Do It, acrylic on canvas by Apayo Moore, 2014. www.apayoart.com.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Names: Boochever, Annie, author.
Title: Fighter in velvet gloves : Alaska civil rights hero Elizabeth Peratrovich / by Annie Boochever ; in collaboration with Roy Peratrovich, Jr.
Description: Fairbanks, AK : University of Alaska Press, [2019] | Includes bibliographical references. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2018028794 (print) | LCCN 2018049028 (ebook) | ISBN 9781602233720 (ebook) | ISBN 9781602233706 (pbk. : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Peratrovich, Elizabeth, 1911–1958. | Tlingit Indians–Alaska–Biography. | Indians of North America–Civil rights.
Classification: LCC E99.T6 (ebook) | LCC E99.T6 B66 2019 (print) | DDC 323.1197—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018028794
Printed in the United States by Sheridan
ISBN-13: 978-1-60223-371-3 (electronic)
To TigerLily, Ayla Blue, and Harvey Dean
Table of Contents
Introduction
Prologue by Roy Peratrovich Jr.
Elizabeth Peratrovich’s Parents
Growing Up the Alaska Native Way
School Days
Citizenship, a Terrible Sign, and Kayhi
Marriage and Klawock
The Capital City
Separate Schools
The Native Vote
Meeting with the Governor
The Orphanage
Laying the Groundwork by Airplane
Grand Presidents
The Big Day
Carefully Chosen Words
What Happened Next
A Quiet Ending
Epilogue
Afterword
Timeline
Glossary
Bibliography
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Native people thrived in Alaska for thousands of years before the first white fur traders arrived about the time of the American Revolution. By the end of World War II, the natural riches of Alaska—its great whales, fur-bearing wildlife, abundant salmon, ancient timber, and precious metals—had attracted wave after wave of newcomers. During that long period, the rights of Alaska Native people—the right to hunt and fish on their lands,