00                      HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 29                                                                     
01 Commemorating the Anti-Discrimination Act of 1945.                                                                      
02 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
03       WHEREAS Alaska Natives faced systemic discrimination and were denied basic civil                              
04 rights during the state's territorial days; and                                                                         
05 WHEREAS Elizabeth Peratrovich, Grand President of the Alaska Native Sisterhood,                                       
06 and her husband, Roy Peratrovich, Grand President of the Alaska Native Brotherhood,                                     
07 successfully petitioned the Alaska Territorial Legislature and the governor to enact the Anti-                          
08 Discrimination Act of 1945; and                                                                                         
09       WHEREAS the Anti-Discrimination Act of 1945 banned discriminatory signage and                                   
10 made it a crime to discriminate based on race in public establishments; and                                             
11       WHEREAS this landmark legislation was the first anti-discrimination law in the                                  
12 United States; and                                                                                                      
13       WHEREAS February 16, 2020, marked the 75th anniversary of the Anti-                                             
14 Discrimination Act of 1945 being signed into law;                                                                       
15       BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature recognizes the historical                                      
16 importance of the Anti-Discrimination Act of 1945 as the vanguard of anti-discrimination                                

01 legislation in the United States; and be it                                                                             
02       FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature commemorates the 75th                                        
03 anniversary of the Anti-Discrimination Act of 1945.                                                                     
04 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to Paulette Moreno, Grand President of the                                    
05 Alaska Native Sisterhood; Heather Gurko, Grand President of the Alaska Native Brotherhood;                              
06 and the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the Honorable Dan Sullivan, U.S. Senators, and the                                 
07 Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.