Comments on Indigenous and Presidential History
Ḵaax̱gal.aat Yagiyee (Elizabeth Peratrovich Day) 2025
The following is the text of a speech I gave on February 16th, 2025, as part of celebrations honoring Ḵaax̱gal.aat Yagiyee, Elizabeth Peratrovich Day. The speech was given at Ketchikan High School in Kichx̱áan, the town commonly known as Ketchikan, which is located on the lands of the Taantʼa and Sanyaa ḵwáan (Tongass and Cape Fox people) in Lingít Aaní (Tlingit Country).
Yakʼéi yagiyee, ldakát yeewháan. Ḵúnáx̱ likoodzi yee x̱wsateení yá sitgawsáan. Hello everyone. It is really wonderful to see all of you this afternoon.
Sigóowu Ḵaax̱gal.aat Yagiyee! Happy Elizabeth Peratrovich Day!
Kaakasgoox̱ú áyá ax̱ saayí. Naanya.aayí naax̱ x̱at sitee. Peter Stanton ḵa Yáxwchʼ yóo x̱at duwasáakw. Dleit ḵáa ḵa Waashdan Ḵwáan áyá x̱at. Kichx̱áanxʼ yéi x̱at yatee.
My name is Peter Stanton. I am a white American whose ancestors have lived on this continent for about four hundred years, and in Alaska for just seventy. I am very grateful to be able to call Kichx̱áan my home, I am proud to be a teacher at Ketchikan High School, and I am extremely honored to carry the name Kaakasgoox̱ú as an adopted member of the Naanya.aayí clan of the Shtaxʼhéen Ḵwáan.
I am also honored that I was asked to speak again at this celebration, in order to provide some historical perspective on the enduring importance of this holiday, and its relevance to this particular moment in time.
Tomorrow is Presidents’ Day, and one thing that a lot of history teachers and historians love to talk about is presidents and presidential history — but not me. I tend to be more of a big picture guy, and I like trying to analyze shifts in history that took place over decades or even centuries, not short spans of four or eight years. That being said, I think it is worthwhile to consider how presidential history intersects with Indigenous history, and what it means for Native people, their rights, and their political goals.
I’ve seen people have conversations in the past around the question,
Who was the best president of the United States for Indigenous people?
That is a tough question, and you can make different arguments for various presidents, depending on your perspective.
One possible answer is Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and it is true that during his presidency in the 1930s and 1940s, Indigenous people were able to achieve some major successes: The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, which was extended to include Alaska in 1936, allowed Native people to found new tribal governments including Ketchikan Indian Community and the Organized Village of Saxman. The Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska was established around the same time in order to sue the federal government over land claims that Shgúndi William Paul and the Alaska Native Brotherhood had resolved to pursue. Native carvers including the famed Haida carver John Wallace, the Lingít carver Staastʼ Charles Brown, and many, many others joined the Civilian Conservation Corps and created new totem parks across Southeast Alaska, including at Saxman and Totem Bight. And, of course, Ḵaax̱gal.aat Elizabeth Peratrovich, along with other Native leaders, was able to advocate for and ensure the passage of the 1945 Anti-Discrimination Act in Alaska.
Now, I would not claim that Franklin Delano Roosevelt being president was not an important factor in these events: Roosevelt appointed John Collier as the commissioner for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and appointed Ernest Gruening as governor of the territory of Alaska, and these men played key roles in each of these laws and governmental actions. But FDR did not give Native people new rights. John Collier did not give the people of this land Ketchikan Indian Community and the Organized Village of Saxman. Ernest Gruening did not pass the Anti-Discrimination Act himself.
It was Indigenous people who had to rise up and push for these changes. If Alaska Natives did not organize themselves politically, recognition of their sovereignty never would have come. Recognition of their ownership of this land never would have come. Laws against discrimination never would have come. Regardless of who was president or who was in key positions in government, Native people had to advocate for themselves, they had to shine a light on injustice, and they had to do the work to take advantage of the opportunities that came their way. As Ḵaax̱gal.aat said,
Asking you to give me equal rights implies that they are yours to give.
They aren’t the government’s to give, not then, and not now. Your rights are yours, to defend, to insist upon, to always keep fighting for.
Yee gu.aa yáx̱ x’wán! Aatlein gunalchéesh ax̱ xʼeit yeesa.aax̱í. Sigóowu Ḵaax̱gal.aat Yagiyee!
Thank you very much for listening to me. Happy Elizabeth Peratrovich Day!
