Seattle had a growing Latino population in the late 1960s, and activists had been pressing the city for a building in which to establish a Chicano community center. Tired of having their requests ignored, in October 1972 they took over the abandoned Beacon Hill School on 16th Avenue South and renamed it El Centro de la Raza. After a 75-day occupation and ongoing negotiations—including a sit-in-- with the Mayor’s office, the city finally acquiesced in June 1973, subleasing the Seattle School District building to the group for $1 a year. El Centro de la Raza community center is still (as of 2017) in the same building, providing services and advocacy for the Latino community and other residents of the Beacon Hill area.

This photo shows a group Beacon Hill School protesters after they took over the City Council chambers during a meeting recess, in protest of the council's failure to approve the leasing of the school for an ethnic center. Leasing continued to be delayed for months over the city's questions about how the restoration and maintenance on the building was to be funded.

Caption information source: Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project at University of Washington, page at http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/slides_Chicano.htm
Caption information source: Seattle Times, November 11, 1972, p. 6.
Caption information also derived from captions written by Post-Intelligencer staff and attached to the back of the photograph.