Seattle’s Latino community was rapidly growing in the late 1960s and community activists pushed for the building of a Chicano community center, which they named El Centro de la Raza. After Chicano activists occupied the abandoned Beacon Hill School in late 1972, the city agreed to lease them the building for $1 per year. However, Seattle mayor Wes Uhlman refused to sign the lease until he received assurances of funding for El Centro. In response, about 50 activists held a sit-in protest in his outer office on April 5, 1973. Uhlman spoke to a few leaders of the protest but would not sign the lease. The protesters refused to leave and were removed by police, with eighteen cited for criminal trespass. The activists worked out a compromise with Uhlman in May 1973 and El Centro de la Raza opened later that year.

This photo shows a group of the protesters in the reception area of the Mayor's office.

Caption information source: “18 arrested after Uhlman office sit-in,” by Larry McCarten, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, April 6, 1973, page 1
Caption information source: “Chicano impasse cracked,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, May 2, 1973, page A3.