Today in Labor History February 16, 1945: The Alaska Equal Rights Act was signed into law. It was the first anti-discrimination law in the U.S. the law prevents and criminalizes discrimination against anyone in public areas based on their race. The law came in response to the struggle of Indigenous Alaskans fighting discrimination. In 1944, Alberta Schenck (Inupiaq) protested segregation by deliberately sitting in the “whites-only” section of a movie theater in Nome, Alaska. The cops arrested her.

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