For the Rights of All: Ending Jim Crow in Alaska

or a hanging it is this is an american story you just told many times with different faces always advancing wave upon wave toward that farther promised sure of equality this was the only country in the history of the world ever made that promise to its people the onstage did not live up to the promise but it made the promise and in a way the unfolding of american history in part is a fulfillment of that promise the unfolding of american history in alaska to officially begin in eighteen sixty seven the united states' purchased the vast alaskan territory from russia the stars and stripes was raised over more than

just five hundred and eighty six thousand square miles for many millennia this diverse and rich land was home to these remarkable people the alaska natives as they collectively call themselves are many distinct people's with different languages cultures and traditions with the coming of american rule these indigenous people faced one of the darkest periods in us history when jim crow laws relegated so many americans are second class status this is their story the alaska natives nonviolent struggle against racism two decades before the national civil rights movement of the nineteen sixties and alaska natives empowered themselves and eight as

an hour before the coming of europeans and hiding people dominated the vast coastal region of southeast alaska this was a complex and highly structured society how skilled in the ways of trade public speaking and the art of oration were held in high regard their ability to get the civil war likeability in the nineteenth century serve was translated in their dominant ability with robert's rules of water in the twentieth century due to discrimination because the tactics of our politics were not new to them the alaska natives brought their struggle against discrimination to the territorial legislature in juneau this is ridiculous an

id legislation you know this i know this is governor at this with anti discrimination legislation hanging in the balance elizabeth director of age or younger comedic mother of three stood and signal to all that change was at hand to me we think our homeland is paradise it's beautiful and you could see the mountains the waters its rich very wealthy land and resources and we're very fortunate to have had ancestors who developed a great culture and so it was surprising to us when people came here and they were trying to treat us as if we were the inferiors and they embody back in their laws and we were designated as the uncivilized people searching the world for profit european explorers came to alaska in the mid seventeenth hundreds

the russians and later americans came for furs fish and eventually go what they found however were indigenous people living everywhere alaska or to extract the coveted resources they had to collaborate with the natives initially we wanted to have commerce with them we wanted to be able to train but we also had the expectation that the europeans would treat us with respect or abide by our own laws but when they began to act like it was there is then you know we became concerned in at no two clean gets using newly acquired us attacked and captured the russian fortune in sitka two years later russian warships counterattack the russians and there are huge allies suffered heavy losses retired the force after six days of this marked the end of conventional warfare

russian treatment of alaska natives was often severe however both groups profited from the commerce when the treaty of sale was concluded nineteen sixty seven of those specific tribes were to be guaranteed their citizenship rights in the american rule the inhabitants of the ceded territory with the exception of a civilized tribe shall be admitted to the enjoyment of all the rights advantages and immunities of citizens of the united states and show be maintained and protected in the free enjoyment of their liberty property and religion draghi of purchase article three almost immediately however these rights were disregarded there's an important difference between the russian understanding of what they were here doing and what the americans thought they bought in international law a european country finding a new and had instantly established their first option to buy united states since its inception believed that sovereignty equaled

ownership and have sovereignty over an area you own the land we objected and our clan leaders maps they decided they discussed should we wage war against the united states they decided that they were going to protest legally and politically but that was eight years ago united states of america the us and began a policy that eventually resulted in the doctrine of manifest destiny in the west and eight at a sea change in the policy the stage towards indigenous peoples in which they were no longer the subject of a treaty making but i were to be treated as obstacles to develop an expansion of the country the governments of the early american period was primarily one of neglect the us military was the only legal before

however cultural misunderstandings between natives and the military soon escalate conflicts led to the shelling of several southeast alaska villages the village of angling was destroyed and its people left homeless news of the destruction caused a stir in washington congress began to reexamine its policies toward native americans two years later steps were taken to remove alaska for military control in the alaska organic act of a tv ad for congress provided for limited civilian government they lost control of all of their lands them in their stories horrible stories about what happened to him when the minors came and there was no real law or else the law didn't apply to the protection of native people and

measles and at ninety seven chiefs petitioned the president william mckinley imploring him to take steps to relieve the suffering of their people and to protect hunting and fishing resources there were court cases especially among alley people suing for their rights as citizens that one of the russian government to appoint an inspector to reside it's it can monitor compliance with the treaty and at sixty seven the nelson act passed by congress in january nineteen oh five provided that native and white children in alaska be educated in segregated schools children could attend white schools so long as they and their parents lived a civilized life and at that time you know it could become a civilized native was to abandon your primal relationship was a citizenship test essential and if you're still a citizen of the maid native

community you could not become a citizen of the united states and you're there for possible boarding schools were created to be feelings of inferiority and shain were associated with all things meat that can destroy an individual can destroy people can destroy the generations an idiot whether a civilized or uncivilized assimilated or not natives were not citizens the us constitution the bill of rights did not apply to continue to live under the law's of jim crow in nineteen twelve several young graduates of the second training school formed a fraternal organization the alaska native brotherhood

called the a and b the alleged liberal and brought the people together from from sacks going to get a tent where they had been isolated and now they could be and talk of their common problems and the troops have a unit and we call them camps they attacked some of the problems such as citizenship such as right of our youngsters go to public schools the right to vote the right to hold and home property they says ride was founded a year later my grandmother to lee was one of the founders and they knew that the man needed to be supported and they would raise whatever little money they had they would give to the brotherhood in nineteen twenty a young

man join the brotherhood he inspired a new political course william porter was alaska's first native attorney and like just because this guy was in the east he was before his time he was an attorney he was he was the thinker of our community he was the leader and the legal direction that we took people didn't like him on a personal basis a lot of people because he was abrupt and he was a he was controlling but gosh if you're gonna be a leader of your community are either controlling or you're persuasive and he was both of them and one of the things he knew as you have to have power and away you get power no moans from awesome a leash on to politics involving would be the testing ground balls first cases involved his mother kelly paul tommy who was arrested for encouraging a native man to vote in the nineteen

twenty two election troy johnson with the chief of the non yeah i tried was leaving the the voting booth and he was walking down the street and i'd rather than that we are excited to have you and he said they wouldn't let me do you know that you have come on so they went back and they went to they all been enough anything idea of everyone about judges was married to an indian woman i demand that you give this man a ballot he's a us citizen and he has the right to vote so he voted then they went home to marshall swore out a bench warrant and arrested at charlie for voting and chile for inciting a non citizen to vote against the law and they were on their way true true i can't she can and my father got a telegram he went down there

and the case came to court and get one there's a certificate of citizenship and this is to my grandfather john for not he had to swear that he had renounced his tribal ways and his tribal customs and he had to have five teachers attest to the fact that he was a civilized person and that he was eligible for citizenship the battle over citizenship ended in nineteen twenty four when congress accorded citizenship to all native americans including alaska natives the whole focus of the a and b the an estimate a brother and sister with shifted toward civil rights because now were citizens have the right to petition in court for redress of a violation of our civil rights that same year william paul ran for office and became the first alaska native elected to the territorial legislature many of the whites in

alaska felt threatened by the native population the nineteen twenties of the white population was declining by nineteen twenty nine the natives are actually in the majority so the rise of things like the literacy tests in the nineteen twenties came in part in response to increasing native political power part in a political power was from the alaska native brotherhood and the indomitable spirit william paul white people absolutely do it not like william paul they did not like the smart indian who is able to politically mobilized native people and mobilize them he did and that was because he could write in april nineteen twenty five the alaska territorial legislature enacted into law a measure requiring that voters in territorial elections be able to read and write the english language the problem of literacy test always was who was actually

deciding who's doing the testing with but that one it wasn't so much it was the issue of literacy it was another roadblock to disenfranchise people that you want to disenfranchise because the literacy law didn't apply to those who have already voted and record keeping at that time was poor the new law was largely ignored there wasn't a depression were subsistence way of life the globe on a boat and we were always going somewhere to get blueberries strawberries then go on berry's sego eggs seal meat all those wonderful food cheap and the nineteen thirties much of the traditional culture of the people went underground because western culture holland upon a traditional ways that the native people work was

scarce for alaska natives and many of the jobs they could find were low paying in the salmon canneries and eighty people were receiving just a fraction of what other workers were getting coming to town in my childhood to put us into a first contact with whites with this contact in kmart first experience with racism from the first time i saw white tate i experienced racism as a white hot wait that can bring you to your knees with one strike as a child the stairs of children were so hard and cruel that icon award and wanted the height and never come out again i had nowhere to run with them so we took the reign of spirits from their

eyes until they left us alone even now after decades i'm still stinging from their wait wait in nineteen forty a new generation took over the leadership of the brotherhood and sister organizations decided to make racial discrimination top priorities elected leaders are ready to take up the sport the oldest of eight children of a klingon woman and a yugoslavian immigrant roy director of a child to provide for his siblings from the age of twelve after both parents die nonetheless here the high school diploma and went to college he was mayor of coal walk when the grand camp elected him to lead the brother he was a big man and he had a booming voice and he was someone that could

really argue an issue and roy in particular part was easy to approach he had a hearty laugh and he was jovial he was a caterer and it allowed a young person like myself and many others to find him approachable elizabeth wanamaker organ petersburg alaska on the fourth of july was the adopted daughter of a presbyterian minister andrew wanamaker traveled to the village to village preaching in queen elizabeth's learned public speaking from her father whenever she talked with thought the listen there's a new shared something very important very charming and she was very beautiful roy and elizabeth met in high school and were married in nineteen thirty one when attending college elizabeth was voted president of the alaska native sisterhood at the same time roy became president of the brotherhood i don't ever think of them as anything but a team

because really they work together so closely in the years leading up to and during world war two the brotherhood and sisterhood meetings or socialist as well as political events she and roy you wanna dance also a modern advanced of a companion than a whole lot of social and also dignity at the nineteen forty one they end the ama's convention henrietta newton white woman an honorary member of the sr described her experience with racial discrimination at the juno beauty parlor trade i beg your pardon i am one hundred percent swiss and wouldn't take your permit you gave it to me for free

i'm sorry i saw it with that native earlier and i just assumed that was my sister and all my husband's sister of faith the alaska native village convention in movement started to do something about eliminating racial bias in our midst the barometer of age is quickly realized that the take on racial discrimination effectively they would have to move to do you know take the struggle to the territorial legislature however their first confrontation with racial bias was finding the coastal libyan people could write it into a realistic context for instance that no major be allowed this was not like the old south in that way but it was prevalent enough cause the towns are small that oh yeah do see one of these to be pretty sore about it we saw signs in the stories than other areas and they get there

and then we went there we went house hunting to rent and the man you love and i'm sorry we don't and for a second as taken aback but not that much in the sense of i'm sorry i've wanted to do and then i left and as harsh as that was i had good at that because of how the story of the man who would treat people like them they really want to keep that they've been many people living in in the village because that way they would be forced to go to the village school government's go what is one thing my parents didn't really want me want to their children to have to go to gaza for the public schools would be to get a better education she dressed she spoke she was articulate an educated like joins us as assimilated as you can be and then when she got to juneau it turned out that racism

trump's assimilation system than that we were shocked when the jews were discriminated essen germany stores were told public places having science no jews allowed oh freedom loving people in the country were horrified it has been practiced in our country roy an elizabeth realized they needed political help they've turned to the territorial governor and they couldn't have chosen a more effective advocate for their cause a small shorts or retire and fiercely combative jewish doctor from new york city you know he was a brilliant man no spoke spanish french german english and he could argue with you all for those languages probably at the same time that he robbed many alaskans the wrong way that effect

many ask is the spice to be a very deep convictions but he was a politician and he wanted to get things up among his many reforms he thought alaska needed to be brought into the marinade was an equal rights bill because he saw the discrimination against native alaskans and feeling himself the anti semitism among some people ernest was a liberal the liberal in the best sense of the word it's who i am we believe in the equality of man who believed it is it when the japanese empire attacked pearl harbor alaska found itself on the front lines monday morning we listened to the president's daily news asking for a declaration of war and it was clear to all of us that

as japan's conquest in the pacific expanded alaska would come next you're in the war we would have blackouts overhearing to do is carry out and most of us believed that their own airplane something are you ever going to bomb us in the spring of nineteen forty two a japanese bombed dutch harbor and captured several aleutian islands the japanese military was now holding part of the us territory of alaska a lot of things changed for second world war and it was our country were thinking about and we were trying to do it we could to help many alaska natives were mobilized to defend the mainland as part of the alaska territorial guard all these young guys were eager to anne whiston and serve their country and at the same time they're

also talking about rights and political activism we were fighting a war against racism that the nazi regime was at its core a rabid nationalist and racist regime the civil rights advances in nineteen fifties and sixties are in the wake of the war too because war two really was what fundamentally change the society and all the sudden you know didn't matter the color of your skin and this all out war against the nazis in nineteen forty two the us government forcibly evacuated some nine hundred telling us from their aleutian island homes the official justification was to remove citizens from the government how's the unsanitary camps in abandoned canneries in southeast alaska for the duration of the war and many died when the survivors return to their homes after the war they found entire villages burned and homes

and churches looted in southeast alaska german prisoners of war were held not far from the alaska native internment camp at folger day the africa corps people weren't in their pure wu camp an excursion and that living off the federal land so these guys are getting medical help they were getting their three square meals a day in elliot's were literally starving and dying over and found her day and so the prisoners of war were treated much more humanely than our own population in the citizens of the united states despite the irony of fighting fascism abroad while experiencing racial prejudice at home most alaskan natives volunteered to help in the war effort world war two for civil rights in america was a powerfully watershed time to have your country say to you as an individual you are valuable and you are needed was tall really out of the

experience of minority people in this country the shared common experience of war would certainly have suggested individuals like elizabeth and roy that it is time to act in business establishment had no native fallout from the proprietor eureka freedom fee and at boys provided wealthier union forces based on with their lives by the nineteen forty three governor greening submitted an anti discrimination bill to the

legislature after a bitter floor fight it was defeated in both the house and the senate since the legislature met every other year the next opportunity would come in nineteen forty five conditions changed in nineteen forty four when greeting with the help of alaska's delegate congress tiny diamond got congress to double the size of a territorial senate and increased the size the turtle house by fifty percent clearly the reason he did this was to help get his political package through which in the old legislative set up he could not so in the fall of nineteen forty four to plaintiffs won election to the legislature and you hope of sitka and frank director of itch roy's brother but developments far from juno also galvanized the movement me like most other alaskan town's name had a chair of jim crow laws why tsarnaev is seldom mixed

the only movie theater in the dream theater reserve the main section for whites and left the balcony for natives in nineteen forty four albertus think adam's worked as an usher in the theater it was her job to ask native people to move from the whites only section albert i was a fifteen year old daughter of a new pr woman and a white man this fiery teenager was troubled by the segregated seating and she complained to the management she was fired alberta again crossed local racial barriers when she and some native friends refuse to leave the dance put on for the military meaning and his campaign cruz yeah come up buyers and certainly and as girls and believe i sure you mean why is general john suthers was joan jones is sitting

with the ladies are the slabs they're not isis or did you give her ten cozy of orders for a silly is it you know you found it himself why does one that enthusiasm to get yours and even though says orders islamic financing adams wrote about the incident in a letter to the editor of the nome nugget what has hurt as counseling is that we're not able to go to a public leader and set where we wish you we pay the same price as anyone else and our monies gladly received we are not allowed even to go to public doings which only are for the benefit of the society people of our city these human beings who think they are on a higher standard than others are not loyal to what is written in the constitution her letter created an uproar and the furious response appeared in the newspapers next issue i suggest that those of the native groups were intelligent enough to complain and criticize start working from within the native population raise their own standards and the

right to which they are asking adams wrote a real bottleneck was never printed then on an early spring night in nineteen forty four albert accepted an invitation from a white soldier to go to the movies the only two seats remaining in the theater in the whites only section two you need to leave now while their house or as mr obama to be sectarian and producer near police sergeant daniel robert he's been in a tough budget there are consequences for your actions

christians bear a very good morning albert a return to the theater a week later with her father gone into the theater that ticket teo navy hymn amen at today college his mind then when i didn't pay that i was fifteen hours that sleigh well with the eu and the terrible he backed me up on everything i did i didn't realize it was an important really have time there's another email and just met school there

are they're looking at me and i had an inattention that's the highway on the sunday following albert his arrest a group of a newbie act eskimos purchase theater tickets and sat wherever they chose still the theater's segregation policy continue this time albert to send a telegram to the governor greening wired to know mayor demanding an explanation he also wrote alberta a personal letter ringing promised her he would push for passage of an anti discrimination bill and the legislature the territory of alaska seventeen such an act to provide food for an equal accommodations facilities and privileges to all citizens january nineteen forty five the territorial legislature convened to consider the anti discrimination bill with alaska natives now represented in the house the measure passed easily

there was strong opposition in the senate led by sen alan shatter the tie vote was all they needed to kill legislation elizabeth director of itch organized lobbying forays to the capital with members of the alaska native sister and that sentiment in the kitchen table in their and work it out together father had done was considered the leader of the abc the other side forget that if they could get by him then was handed to be you know welcome sir to the senate hearing convened on a cold february day in his testimony roy director of itch pointed out that the governor had recognized discrimination and that many members present in the senate body that publicly supported actions the natives either you're for discrimination or you're against it accordingly as you vote on this bill

that he was determined to members of the senate i ask you no discrimination and if this bill was passed but that doesn't matter to these people who waste our time with a purely partisan politics elizabeth was conflicted about herself and and you have to remember that they came from a period where they were oppressed i think it's demoralizing some people and you begin to think of yourselves you know turnstiles or no as gemma you may finish them and will hear from senators walker or wally and scotty please proceed i just want to add that it would appear the house since they did not hold much debate hardly consider the impact of the bill they even bills with the best of intentions can sometimes disguise

detriment is there for we should not be too hasty to pass any bill regardless of its humanistic appeal i have mixed feelings about this legislation since i believe that the constitution of the united states makes it very clear that life liberty and justice are for all and that includes the natives of this land as well as the indian civil war states and territories we have documented reports of case after case of differential treatment natives do not sit with whites services are denied bathrooms are segregated aggravate the situation by forcing them together because i am sane i believe there may be neighbors that legislation all right mr william anderson thank you mr chan this bill you could easily be misunderstood why he proposes to find a person if they do not comply and for one good reason to bring together two races in to one society we are not of the same society anymore than we

are of the japanese mixing whites and native says like mixing oil and water and like such an early breakdown finds an engine of our democracy and let's not forget that we are at war and should be putting our energies into supporting our country not burdening it with frivolous legislation brought together the races should be kept further apart lot of these people barely out of savage who want to associate with us flights with five thousand years of recorded civilization behind please it is the lawyers this again from this legislation and the cost of litigation that will result if this bill is passed natives function better when they're left on their own villages

let them be and let us have our recreation activities to ourselves after all is a free country and not opposed to ending discrimination where it truly exists but there's no well it will only end up forcing law abiding whites to live with work with and sit with natives well i for one do not wish to sit next to an eskimo in the theater truth is based now the rangers are buying these remarks deplorable and insulting as terrorists not all natives was to associate with whites this is certainly true but it is the mixed breeds were the source of trouble here i believe immigration try and do not think this bill will do other than our listeners ms jerman the natives are people who have been treated terribly by our society we have white

sections that music cannot sit in recently you know a woman was so out of the theater for that we have testimony already on record from the charge that demonstrates how natives could never really be it is as senator shattered his says they really are centuries behind us i believe as mr perasa pitch so eloquently stated only indians know what it's like to be discriminated against perhaps we should hear additional testimony from again now law will be and off center there's a right of those in the public and in the galleries the mood here additional testimony ahmad listen to any more of these exaggerated certain order is there anyone in the gallery which is a speedometer workforce

the chair recognizes reasons roared relevance of the alaska natives history i would not have expected that i who am barely out of savagery would have to remind gentleman with five thousand years of recorded civilization behind them and our bill of rights when my husband and i moved to juneau we sought a home in a nice neighborhood where our children play happily with their neighbor's children and we got such a house and had arranged to lease that when the owners learned that we were indian they said no would we be compelled to live in the slums even now there are guards to schools closed our children and signs make it quite clear that i as well as dogs are not allowed in certain

establishments and many of the hotels and restaurants turn as a way of discrimination occurs in many ways let me assure you there are three kinds of presidents have practiced discrimination first politician who likes to maintain an interior minority group so that he can always promised them something and second oh the mr and mrs jones or quite sure of their social position and so our kind to you and one occasion and cancio and the next depending on who they are with byrd the great superman who believes in the superiority of the white race well it has this kind of perpetuated thought that serves to segregate and discriminate and in answer to senator shaddix earlier question do we believe that the passage of this law eliminates

discrimination well have you eliminated larceny or murder by passing a law against it no law well i live in a crime but at least you as legislators can assert to the world that you recognize that people of this present situation and speak your intent to help us overcome discrimination for all alaskans the peak the paper all who witnessed elizabeth's testimony at that your bad day sense for fossils were changing the air governors touting the senate passed the bill or lavender five and the anti discrimination act was signed on february sixteenth nineteen forty five

it was the first comprehensive civil rights past decade before the landmark court decision in brown vs the board of education racial discrimination was illegal in alaska i'll never forget the moment the governor signed the bill then turned to me and presented me with the pen with which the bill was signed the governor said it was the most important legislation ever passed in alaska and would help the most in its development her words carried such an impact on the legislature she didn't get angry or you know or she maintained her composure it took a while for us to even think about the difference as life goes on tomorrow just like it did yesterday we could apply for jobs that time so i went to a

cafe that no indians worked in i was looking for a job and i got the job the effects of the forty five acts were evident everywhere achieving that kind of freedom that kind of opportunity that fundamental human right is universal and wherever it occurs particularly in this setting as it did here in alaska i was an absolute watershed moment in alaskan history when people we know that their lives have been marginalized by the various society that they aspire to become a part of that it affects you and i believe that that is a place that many alaska native peoples if not all

of us deep in our core beings are today i felt inferior aren't people i want my family and who weren't my friends growing up without even a doll to read that resembles you know without anything that even tells you who you are very difficult to grow up without any role models when i put this song i am thinking back to my ancestors my grandmother's my mother who wore their regalia with so much pride and how they formed to help the alaska

native brotherhood in their fight for the issues that confront it at the time i feel like i'm cooking they're armed and this gives me strength the civil rights movement that began with a handful of men and women a century ago transformed itself again in the nineteen sixties the alaska federation of natives was formed to take up the fight over land claims achieving passage of the alaska native claims settlement act in nineteen seventy one the day the fn has one of the largest and most powerful native organizations in america what we're beginning to see i think is that the rights of native americans are being looked at in the larger context of indigenous rights around the world in nineteen eighty eight governor steve cooper declared feb

sixteenth an official state holiday some people say well a lizard that wasn't the only one ny celebrate just elizabeth private stay ad isn't really just that about elizabeth about a person it's about a way of thinking about a straight that standing up it's an example for all of us most people in alaska hadn't you didn't even know who elizabeth proud of which was gravity is getting bigger and bigger corporate children learn about her the children sleep they are sold around to be singing their stools i'd love to see those have expressions

and in sentencing why i see the next generation who are even stronger than me because they've been learning about our culture in the schools they're learning about it from books that we're right and it worked for a great to be around for the next ten thousand years we have moved i would assert at least in our country from violence toward people more racially and culturally different to expelling them two forcing them into our own way of seeing things and her own culture to now for the first time maybe in human history respecting them for who they are and what they have to offer us was nineteen forty fives and jim crow laws were no longer tolerated in alaska tuesday's state alaska's future

elizabeth celebrated once forbidden dance or and elizabeth proctor of its continued her work on behalf of alaska natives helping found the national congress of american indians says she died of cancer in nineteen fifty eight at the age of forty seven and alaska's equal rights holiday remains in her name lloyd director of its continued his strong presence in the brotherhood for the rest of his life as a native elder he inspired generations to continue working for full equality for all

for celebration says it does again set governor ernest green pushed hard for alaska state in which keen in nineteen fifty nine he was elected one of alaska's first two us senators he does in nineteen seventy five we employed his son for edward together on the alaska native claims settlement that of nineteen seventy nine was the largest such settlement william told died in nineteen seventy six frank passed away in nineteen ninety artist adams was voted queen of known annual spring celebration was a shock to those in the

community who supported segregation go oh oh oh oh with faith faith faith has been or

as cheeses are eighteen vic funding for the rights of all was provided by rasmussen foundation and by a major funding provided by the corporation for public broadcasting for the rights of all its available on home video to order colleagues and seventy six eight idle or visit us online at alaska civil rights that

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