The detailed history of racial discrimination against Southeast Alaska Natives remains to be written. Fortunately the late Dr. Walter A. Soboleff (1908-2011), Tlingit philanthropist and cultural leader, saved his correspondence, meeting minutes, and other records while an active and leading member of the Alaska Native Brotherhood (ANB), which served to document the historic civil rights actions of ANB and ANB’s counterpart, the Alaska Native Sisterhood (ANS). The materials he saved, amounting to 37 boxes of historic documents stored at Sealaska Heritage Institute, detail this effort on many levels, and are available to the public for educational research.
Recently, I reviewed the 1939-1945 ANB/ANS Camp 2 meeting minutes ledger. Reading over the joint ANB and ANS meeting for February 12, 1940, I encountered documentation speaking to civil rights actions undertaken in Juneau by ANB and ANS.
Under the direction of ANB Camp 2 President William S. Wanamaker (1889-1944) (Tlingit of the Kiks.ádi Clan), the meeting minutes record Cyril J. Zuboff, Sr. (1892-1869) raising the issue of the Juneau Sports Arena refusing to allow Alaska Natives entrance. Minutes then record proposals to address this situation, which included; 1) engaging in efforts that encouraged people from “refraining from patronizing” the arena, 2) the creation of a four member committee (two ANB men and two ANS women) to address the issue, and 3) that this committee “present a written protest at the next [Juneau] Chamber of Commerce meeting.”
These two short pages (provided below) from this old ledger speak a great deal about the history of civil rights and the reasons ANB and ANS fought for the Anti-Discrimination Act of 1945 and additional efforts.
