On March 26, 1938, Berry Lawson, a twenty-seven-year-old African American waiter staying at the Mt. Fuji Hotel located on Yesler Way in downtown Seattle, Washington, was reportedly asleep in a chair in the hotel lobby. He was spotted by three Seattle Police Department officers, who … Read MoreBerry Lawson Case (1938)
Lodie Biggs, one of the few black professional women in pre-World War II Seattle, was also a significant political activist in the 1920s and 1930s. She was also involved with the transformation of the Seattle branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored … Read MoreLodie Biggs (?-?)
Although racially restricted housing covenants had been banned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1948, various forms of de facto housing segregation kept African Americans relatively isolated spatially in urban areas, including the city of Seattle. Many white homeowners in the years following the Court’s … Read MoreOperation Equity
In 1949 Washington State enacted the Fair Employment Practices Act (FEPA) to make discrimination in hiring on the basis of race, creed, color, or national origin illegal. The Washington State Board Against Discrimination (WSBAD) was created as a provision of the act to make sure … Read MoreWashington State Board Against Discrimination
In 1963, prominent Seattle, Washington civil rights leaders united to form the Central Area Civil Rights Committee (CACRC). Members were typically notable figures in other existing groups like the Urban League (Edwin Pratt), CORE (Walter Hundley), and the NAACP (Charles Johnson), although some represented community … Read MoreCentral Area Civil Rights Committee
Seattle-based civil rights activist, labor leader, and lay Catholic leader Walter Hubbard envisioned a church and world without racism and worked his entire life to achieve that vision. Hubbard was born in New Orleans in 1924. He received little formal education but acquired extensive knowledge … Read MoreWalter Hubbard Jr. (1924-2007)
Floyd C. Covington was a leader in Los Angeles’s black community for more than fifty years. A native of Denver, Colorado, Covington endured many traumatic experiences during his childhood. The 1910 manuscript census indicates that Covington’s father did not live with his family. Covington’s mother … Read MoreFloyd C. Covington (1901-1989)
Whitney Moore Young, Jr. was born July 31, 1921 in Lincoln Ridge, Kentucky on the campus of Lincoln Institute where his father was President. Young received a Bachelor of Science degree from Kentucky State College for Negroes in 1941. Upon graduation, Young joined the Army … Read MoreWhitney M. Young Jr. (1921-1971)
Edith Spurlock was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on October 13, 1901. She grew up in a working class family, one of seven children, and attended Pittsburgh’s Peabody High School. Upon graduation, she married Rufus Sampson, a field agent for Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama. After … Read MoreEdith Spurlock Sampson (1901-1979)
Jane Bolin was the first Black woman graduate of Yale Law School and the first Black female judge in the United States. Bolin was born in Poughkeepsie, New York on April 11, 1908. From her earliest days in her father’s law office, Bolin knew she … Read MoreJane Bolin (1908-2007)
