Honoring the African American soldiers who built the Alaska Highway [Video]

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – About 100 people, including local and national civil rights leaders, Alaska’s lieutenant governor and U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, were at the Sheraton Hotel in Downtown Anchorage Friday to honor the construction of the Alaska Highway and to celebrate Alaska Highway Day.

The event and ceremony commemorate the day in 1942 when the Alaska-Canada Highway was officially completed by Black U.S. Army soldiers.

Those soldiers were segregated in the military at the time and were paid less than white soldiers who helped build the highway. Their efforts made completion of the arterial highway possible, while at the same time, paved the way to desegregation in the military in 1948.

Check out the video above for more on Friday night’s event.

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