On 16 February 1945, the then-territory of Alaska passed the US’s first state or territory anti-discrimination law. It took a couple of non-white women, or more correctly a girl and a woman, to get there.
The year before, 15-year-old high schooler Alberta Schenck was sacked from her ushering job at the Alaska Dream Theatre in Nome after complaining about having to ensure that non-white patrons sat in their segregated area. Returning with a white date and sitting in the “Whites Only” section, she was arrested and jailed for the night.
This was a catalyst for the bill. When hearing preliminary public testimony, one territorial senator 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?” Elizabeth Peratrovich was the last witness, testifying:
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.
