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 make their point that racial discrimination would no longer be tolerated within the Seattle Public school system. The March 29 sit-in lasted several hours, and ended peacefully when school officials, mediators, and students arranged a meeting for the following Monday to discuss the demands and the issue of racial discrimination in Seattle schools. At that hearing, however, Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Forbes Bottomly implied that charges would be pressed against the UW BSU leaders for their role in the protest.

On April 4, Carl Miller, Aaron Dixon, Larry and Richard Gossett, and Trolice Flavors were arrested for their participation in the Franklin High School sit-in. In June, Miller, Dixon, and Larry Gossett were found guilty of unlawful assembly and sentenced to 6 months in prison. The verdict created anger and frustration in Seattle's Black community, resulting in riots in some Seattle areas. The men were freed on bail raised by the newly formed Seattle chapter of the Black Panther Party and other donors, and the case was dropped after prosecutors failed to pursue the retrial ordered by an appeals court in 1971. The Franklin sit-in was the first demonstration for the UW BSU, and an critical early fight for justice and equal opportunity in the Seattle area. It inspired the formation of the Seattle chapter of the Black Panther Party and other movements in the Seattle area and throughout the region.

This photo shows the Franklin sit-in defendants, charged with a misdemeanor, being escorted in handcuffs to the court, probably for their April 5 arraignment hearing. The group was released on their own recognizance. From left to right are Officer Clyde Duncan, Trolice Flavors, Carl Miller, Aaron Dixon, and Officer Emory Kirk.

Caption information source: The Franklin High School Sit-in by Tikia Gilbert, from the University of Washington Seattle Civil Rights & Labor History Project, http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/BSU_Franklin.htm

Date photograph was filed at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (date of photograph and file date may differ by a month or more): April 5, 1968