June 1, 1981: Domingo and Viernes
Seattle has long been a haven for both unionism and immigrants from troubled countries across the Pacific Ocean–especially Filipinos. Both of these elements of our city’s history came together on the...
View ArticleJuly 17, 1913: The Potlatch Riots
If you think it’s only been recently that The Seattle Times has been jiving its readership in order to promote a sordid political agenda (such as, say, the deep-bore tunnel), think again. The Times has...
View ArticleNovember 6, 1970: The Seattle Seven
“Did you ever hear of ‘The Seattle Seven’? … That was me … and six other guys.” And that stonily-intoned quote, culled from the script of the Coen Brothers movie classic The Big Lebowski, has likely...
View ArticleNovember 24, 1985: The Colman School Occupation
Seattle’s Colman School, located in Rainier Valley and built in 1909, stood out for many years as a symbol for the city’s African-American community due to the distinction of being the first school in...
View ArticleJune 1, 1961: “Block the Ditch”
What would Seattle look like today without Interstate 5 slicing straight through it? It’s all too easy these days to take for granted the concrete monstrosity that runs through the heart of our city,...
View ArticleJuly 1, 1963: Seattle’s First Civil Rights Sit-In
The “Seattle Way” is nothing new. In fact, our city government’s infamous penchant for processing potential legislation towards a slow, agonizing death dates back at least to the early 1960s, the prime...
View ArticleJuly 29, 1968: About That Typewriter…
In the heavy political weather of the summer of 1968, a war between the Seattle Police Department and the Seattle chapter of the Black Panther Party was almost inevitable. Tensions between the SPD and...
View ArticleAugust 13, 1936: The Seattle Post-Intelligencer Strike
Seattle’s reputation as a pro-labor town has mostly been founded on the memory of the General Strike of 1919 and the WTO protests of 1999. But many other such events have occurred here to strengthen...
View ArticleOctober 11, 1972: El Nacimiento del Centro de la Raza
Seattle’s autumn of 1972 was reportedly one of the coldest in then-recent memory, which made the direct action described below all the more memorable. On the date in focus here, more than 50...
View ArticleNovember 24, 1885: Anna Louise Strong
An undeniable icon in Seattle’s radical history, as well as that of the nation, Anna Louise Strong was born on the date in focus here in the uncannily-named Friend, Nebraska. She acquired many...
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