Petersburg celebrates Elizabeth Peratrovich

Despite the rain and cold, Petersburg residents gathered Saturday to celebrate Elizabeth Peratrovich, a civil rights activist who worked on behalf of equality for Alaska Natives.

Peratrovich was credited with advocacy that gained the passage of the territory's Anti-Discrimination Act of 1945, the first anti-discrimination law in the United States.

According to the National Women's History Museum, Peratrovich was the last person to speak at the Territorial Senate beginning her speech saying, “I would not have expected that I, who am barely out of savagery, would have to remind gentlemen with fi...