On March 8, 1970, about 100 members and sympathizers of United Indian People's Council (later United Indians of All Tribes Foundation, or UIATF) occupied Fort Lawton, a 1,100-acre army post in Seattle's Magnolia neighborhood. They were inspired by the passage of a bill signed by President Richard Nixon, which granted non-federal entities the ability to obtain surplus federal lands for below market value. The Native group wanted to create a cultural center for Indigenous peoples, while the City of Seattle wanted to build a city park, on the recently decommissioned surplus lands of Fort Lawton. After long negotiations and Congressional intervention, the protest ultimately resulted in a solution permitting development of both an Indian cultural center and a municipal park--Discovery Park--on the Fort Lawton site. The Daybreak Star Cultural Center, run by United Indians of All Tribes, opened in 1977, and as of 2021, continues to serve as an "urban base for Native Americans in the Seattle Area," by providing cultural, educational, and social services to local Indigenous communities.
In this image Grace Thorpe (1921-2008), Sac and Fox Nation, creates a sign for a demonstration outside the federal courthouse in downtown Seattle. Scheduled for that day was the arraignment of 14 Indigenous individuals (including Ms. Thorpe) on charges stemming from a second "invasion" of Fort Lawton on March 15. Ms. Thorpe, a resident of Phoenix, was a World War II veteran, environmentalist, Indigenous rights activist, and the daughter of Olympian Jim Thorpe (1887-1953).
Caption information source: "14 Indians Arraigned for 'Invasion,' Seattle Post-Intelligencer, March 17, 1970, page 2. Caption information source: "Fort Lawton military police clash with Native American and other protesters in the future Discovery Park on March 8, 1970," by Patrick McRoberts and Kit Oldham, HistoryLink.org Essay 5513. Caption information source: "By Right of Discovery: United Indians of All Tribes Retakes Fort Lawton, 1970," by Lossom Allen, the Seattle Civil Rights & Labor History Project, University of Washington, https://depts.washington.edu/civilr/FtLawton_takeover.htm.
