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 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.
Frustrated at the months-long delay in approval for the sublease from the city on the Beacon Hill School, about 50 Chicano activists and their supporters staged a sit-in at Mayor Wes Uhlman's office on April 5, 1973. The group accused Uhlman of stalling and pledged to stay until the Mayor signed the two leases, between the school district and the city for the building, and city and the Chicano group for the multicultural center. Eighteen people were arrested for criminal trespass when they refused to leave at the end of the day.
This photo shows a group of the protesters in the reception area of the Mayor's office.
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, April 6, 1973, p.31. Caption information also derived from captions written by Post-Intelligencer staff and attached to the back of the photograph.
