One of the first three black students to enroll at Seattle's elite Lakeside School, Thomas "T.J." Vassar, Jr. (1950-2013), went on to Harvard, then returned to Seattle, became director of LEEP (Lakeside Educational Enrichment Program) and a member of Lakeside’s faculty, and later served on the Seattle School Board. Mr. Vassar was a highly-regarded local advocate for diversity and social justice in schools.

In this image Mr. Vassar explains that he has decided to retire from the Seattle School Board after eight years. Later that year, he was appointed by Governor Booth Gardner as chairman of the state Commission on African American Affairs, newly created to study the needs of blacks in Washington and to recommend possible executive or legislative action.

Caption information source: The Seattle Times, November 23, 1989, page D2
Caption information source: "Lakeside School (Seattle)," by Mary T. Henry, HistoryLink.org Essay 10621
Caption information also derived from captions written by Post-Intelligencer staff and attached to the back of the photograph.