In late May 1969, members of the Black Student Union (BSU) and Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) demonstrated for several days in Seattle's Central District. Their focus was the lack of Black representation on the board of Seattle Community College (now Seattle Central College), and they wanted one member of the five-man board to resign in favor of a Black appointee. Demonstrators, who temporarily occupied several college buildings in an effort to close the college, were met by armed police. On the morning of May 23, police faced demonstrators on Capitol Hill at the college's Edison South Branch (formerly Broadway High School, now Broadway Performance Hall). They filled the parking lot of the Central Pontiac automobile dealership at Broadway and Pine. Students entered the building but dispersed at around 10:30 and headed to the college's Summit Branch.

Handwritten on sleeve: B.S.U. and S.D.S. invade Edison and Summit campuses of S.C.C.
Date photograph was filed at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (date of photograph and file date may differ by a month or more): May 22, 1969.