Above: Protestors block Interstate 5, May 5, 1970, in solidarity against the bombing of Cambodia and the National Guard killing of four students at Kent State University. (Image: MOHAI–Seattle Post-Intelligencer Collection)
When future historians dust off the year 2017, they’ll surely note that in Seattle, as elsewhere, this was a time of uncommon political engagement. In January, for example, some 120,000 of us, many bedecked in pink stocking caps, took to Seattle streets for the Women’s March, in nationwide solidarity against the newly inaugurated president’s rhetoric and promised policies. A week later, demonstrators crashed Sea-Tac airport and Westlake Park, protesting the new administration’s Muslim travel ban. And throughout the year the state has waged multiple lawsuits against the White House, care of Washington attorney general Bob Ferguson and governor Jay Inslee.
The thing is, this city has always been engaged. From striking workers to anti–Vietnam War protests to marches against the World Trade Organization, Seattle has set the stage again and again for social change and justice. Here we celebrate this legacy with a look at what Seattle activism has accomplished over the past century.
Which is not to say the city’s protest streak is history. Far from it. “Seattle has a reputation,” says James Gregory, director of the University of Washington’s Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project (an invaluable resource for accounts of local crusading). Because of our impact on the nation and world, he says, conscientious people think to themselves, “Let’s go to Seattle, a lot is happening there.”
1917–24: Seattle’s Anti-WWI Women and the General Strike Make News Worldwide
Plus: Washington voters reject the Ku Klux Klan.
1931: Unemployed Citizens Erect Hooverville
Pictured: Seattle’s Hooverville, as seen in March 1933, settled near where the Seahawks and Mariners stadiums stand now.
1935–42: Locals Protest Anti-Interracial Marriage Laws and Japanese Internment
The only known newspaper to have decried internment policies in the area, maybe even the West Coast, was Bainbridge Island Review.
1953: Filipino Cannery Workers Strike
During the McCarthy era, workers stood up to the Red Scare by refusing to bar Communists in union leadership roles.
1956–69: Seattleites Stand Up for Racial Justice
The region’s civil rights movement relied not only on African Americans, but activists from many ethnic groups.
1968: Birdwatchers and Mountaineers Defend the Wilderness
“They were then the fightingest and scrappiest outfit around.”
1970: Anti-Vietnam Protests Break Out—But the Dude Abides
Plus, protests at Fort Lawton make way for the Day Break Star Indian Cultural Center.
1972–74: Native Activists Fight for Their Rights to Fish
Plus: Students-turned-protesters occupy a Beacon Hill schoolhouse—known today as the El Centro de la Raza community center.
1982–84: The Trident Nuclear Submarine; Grassroots HIV Care
Plus, an occupation at Colman Elementary leads the way for the Northwest African American Museum.
1991: PNW Riot Grrrls Stage a Revolution
Northwest bands like Bikini Kill, Sleater-Kinney and Bratmobile pioneered feminism’s third wave.
1999–2003: Progressives Protest the Global Trade Agenda and the Invasion of Iraq
As the Left formed a united front, street protests in downtown Seattle brought the WTO conference to a standstill.
2012–14: Seattle Pushes for Legal Weed and a $15 Minimum Wage
And paved the way for dozens of other cities and states that have since followed suit.
2015–17: Kayaktivists Confront Big Oil and Washington Confronts Trump
To be continued.
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