February is the month to celebrate Elizabeth Peratrovich day, honoring a pioneer in Alaska civil rights. Haines schools will have a 9 a.m. assembly on Tuesday, February 18. Elizabeth was a Tlingit woman whose powerful speech in the Territorial Legislature influenced passage of the anti-discrimination law – 19 years before 1964 and the lower 48’s civil rights era.
At noon on February 12, the U.S. Mint will begin selling a new gold one dollar coin that honors her. The coin’s design was unveiled last October at the Anchorage convention of the Alaska Native Brotherhood and Alaska Native Sisterhood. The Alaska Senate and House passed HJR9 asking that 5 million coins be minted for general circulation. Please write or go online to contact Senators Murkowski and Sullivan and Rep. Young to ask for their support of this resolution.
For further information, please visit www.anbansgc.org. To order coins by the roll (25), bag (100), or box (250), go online to the U.S. Mint: catalog.usmint.gov/native-american-1-coin-2020-rolls-bags-and-boxes-MASTER_NA2020RBB.html?
Carol Duis
ANS Camp 5 and ANS Grand (State) Secretary