Elizabeth Peratrovich To Be Celebrated

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Category: News

Created on Friday, 14 February 2025 15:52

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By SHANNON HAUGLAND

Sentinel Staff Writer

    All Sitkans are being invited to share in the celebration of Elizabeth Peratrovich Day Sunday, when a  parade, a dinner and performances by Native dance groups will honor the Native civil rights leader.

    Alaska Native Sisterhood Camp 4 and Alaska Native Brotherhood Camp 1 are sponsoring the Elizabeth Peratrovich Day events, which kick off with a parade down Lincoln Street.  

Sitkans march down Lincoln Street to the ANB Founders  Hall during the Elizabeth Peratrovich Day parade in 2024. this year's parade and program take place Sunday. (Sentinel file photo by James Poulson)

Parade lineup will be 1:30 p.m. at Crescent Harbor shelter. The parade will start at 2 p.m., proceed down Lincoln Street to Katlian Street, and continue to the ANB Founders Hall.

    “Marching down Lincoln Street together has been a wonderful way to honor our amazing Elizabeth Peratrovich,” organizers said.

    After the parade, Sitkans are invited to ANB Founders Hall for a program, with a welcome by ANS President Stephanie Weddel and ANB President Pete Karras, and a keynote speech by Yeidikook’áa (Dionne Brady-Howard) of the Kiks.ádi clan’s X’aaka Hít (Point House).

    The Yup’ik and Iñupiaq dance groups from Mt. Edgecumbe High School will perform. Chef Brian Weddel, first vice president of ANS, will prepare a dinner of baked salmon, rice. herring egg salad, and three-bean salad.

    A keynote speaker and program with dance groups will follow. 

    ANS officer and chaplain Debe Brincefield has helped organize the Elizabeth Peratrovich Day parade and other events for the last 15 years. She said the celebrations are always joyful, with good fellowship among Sitkans, good food and entertaining dancing from Sitka and Edgecumbe groups.

    But the main purpose is honoring “a great lady,” she said.

“It’s where the entire community comes together, it’s a diverse group of people coming out to honor a great lady,” Brincefield said.”She was an Indigenous pioneer and the first civil rights leader, 20 years before Martin Luther King Jr. She’s just my favorite person, she stood up to a crowd of harsh, rude, obnoxious white men in the Legislature.”

    Elizabeth Peratrovich Day has been observed since 1988 to commemorate the Feb. 16, 1945, signing of the Alaska Anti-Discrimination Act. Peratrovich’s powerful speech before the Legislature about inequality is credited as a turning point in the debate leading to the act’s passage. She was a witness at the signing at the invitation of Gov. Ernest Gruening, 

Brincefield, who is a member of the Muscogee Creek tribe of Florida and Georgia and was adopted 25 years ago into the T’akdeintaan clan, of the Freshwater Marked Sockeye House in Hoonah. Her Tlingit name is Dosikiyee, and she has been a member of ANS for 20 years.

    She said it’s not too late to get involved in helping out or performing as a Native dance group. She was pleased at the willingness of Mt. Edgecumbe High School and Outer Coast College students to help out this year.

    “The more we can celebrate and honor (Peratrovich), it’s the best thing we can do,” Brincefield said.

    Those who wish to be a part of the event may call Brincefield at 907 738-4323 or Chad Titell at 907 623-2275.