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Explore stories in Northwest history through highlights from MOHAI’s collections. Search by keyword below or browse the entire online collection by entering the asterisk symbol (*). Filter your search by type of materials.

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426 results for: Civil Rights

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Image of Open housing demonstration at Garfield playfield, Seattle, October 20, 1963
Photograph

Open housing demonstration at Garfield playfield, Seattle, October 20, 1963

In the mid-20th century, protesters began challenging long-established inequitable practices in housing. Racially restrictive housing covenants and discriminatory lending (“redlining”) excluded people of color from buying or renting housing in most of Seattle’s neighborhoods. In 1963, the Seattle Human Rights Commission drafted an open housing ordinance and presented it to the City Council for approval. The Council held public hearings…
ID Number:1986.5.9653.7
Date:1963
Image of Civil rights supporters demonstrate at Westlake Plaza, Seattle, March 7, 1964
Photograph

Civil rights supporters demonstrate at Westlake Plaza, Seattle, March 7, 1964

This image was taken as more than 1,500 demonstrators attended a rally at Westlake Plaza in support of open-housing in Seattle. Several local clergy and representatives of the NAACP spoke to the crowd, encouraging everyone to vote for a local ordinance that would provide for criminal penalties for acts of housing discrimination on the basis of race, ethnic origin, or…
ID Number:1986.5.9654.1
Date:1964
Image of Seattle Opportunities Industrialization Center (SOIC) open house, 1967
Photograph

Seattle Opportunities Industrialization Center (SOIC) open house, 1967

The Seattle Opportunities Industrialization Center, or SOIC (pronounced "So I see"), was established in 1966, largely through a grant from the Office of Economic Opportunity, the federal agency funding "war on poverty" programs. Modeled after the original OIC started by a Philadelphia minister two years earlier, the community-based program recruited, trained and placed unemployed people in the labor market. The…
ID Number:1986.5.10043.1
Date:1967
Image of Seattle Opportunities Industrialization Center (SOIC) open house, 1967
Photograph

Seattle Opportunities Industrialization Center (SOIC) open house, 1967

The Seattle Opportunities Industrialization Center, or SOIC (pronounced "So I see"), was established in 1966, largely through a grant from the Office of Economic Opportunity, the federal agency funding "war on poverty" programs. Modeled after the original OIC started by a Philadelphia minister two years earlier, the community-based program recruited, trained and placed unemployed people in the labor market. The…
ID Number:1986.5.10043.2
Date:1967
Image of Aaron Dixon and Trolice Flavors at court hearing for Franklin High School sit-in, Seattle, April 5, 1968
Photograph

Aaron Dixon and Trolice Flavors at court hearing for Franklin High School sit-in, Seattle, April 5, 1968

In March of 1968 two Black students, cousins Charles Oliver and Trolice Flavors, where suspended from Seattle's Franklin High School after an altercation with a white student, who was not reprimanded. Franklin's outraged Black students, with the help of UW Black Student Union (BSU) activists Carl Miller, Aaron Dixon and Larry Gossett, planned a peaceful demonstration at the school to…
ID Number:1986.5.11579.11
Date:1968
Image of Franklin High School sit-in defendants leaving prison, Seattle, April 5, 1968
Photograph

Franklin High School sit-in defendants leaving prison, Seattle, April 5, 1968

In March of 1968 two Black students, cousins Charles Oliver and Trolice Flavors, where suspended from Seattle's Franklin High School after an altercation with a white student, who was not reprimanded. Franklin's outraged Black students, with the help of UW Black Student Union (BSU) activists Carl Miller, Aaron Dixon and Larry Gossett, planned a peaceful demonstration at the school to…
ID Number:1986.5.11580.6
Date:1968
Image of Aaron Dixon with his mother at courthouse, April 5, 1968
Photograph

Aaron Dixon with his mother at courthouse, April 5, 1968

In March of 1968 two Black students, cousins Charles Oliver and Trolice Flavors, where suspended from Seattle's Franklin High School after an altercation with a white student, who was not reprimanded. Franklin's outraged Black students, with the help of UW Black Student Union (BSU) activists Carl Miller, Aaron Dixon and Larry Gossett, planned a peaceful demonstration at the school to…
ID Number:1986.5.11580.13
Date:1968
Image of Rev. Ralph Mero and students at Mount Zion Freedom School, Seattle, March 31, 1966
Photograph

Rev. Ralph Mero and students at Mount Zion Freedom School, Seattle, March 31, 1966

The Seattle school boycott of 1966 was a protest against racial segregation in Seattle Public Schools. After years of frustration with city officials, a coalition of organizations led by the Central Area Civil Rights Committee (CACRC), the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) organized a boycott, requesting that all Seattle…
ID Number:1986.5.11603.8
Date:1966
Image of Ruth Geissmar and students at TT Minor Elementary School, Seattle, March 31, 1966
Photograph

Ruth Geissmar and students at TT Minor Elementary School, Seattle, March 31, 1966

The Seattle school boycott of 1966 was a protest against racial segregation in Seattle Public Schools. After years of frustration with city officials, a coalition of organizations led by the Central Area Civil Rights Committee (CACRC), the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) organized a boycott, requesting that all Seattle…
ID Number:1986.5.11603.12
Date:1966
Image of BSU occupation of Administration Building  at UW, May 20, 1968
Photograph

BSU occupation of Administration Building at UW, May 20, 1968

University of Washington's Black Student Union (BSU) was founded in early 1968 at a time when very few Black students attended the UW. Over the next several years the BSU led campaigns that transformed the University and helped reshape educational opportunities for young people of color in Seattle and throughout Washington state.On May 20, 1968, the Black Student Union occupied…
ID Number:1986.5.16852.4
Date:1968
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