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.

In this image, protest leader Bernie Whitebear (1937-2000), Sin-Aikst or Sinixt (now one of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation), reads a proclamation ending the three-week period in which UIATF supporters maintained a vigil outside the front gates of Fort Lawton after the initial occupation. Mr. Whitebear, council chairman of the UAITF, explained, "Our encampment drew national and international attention to the plight of the American Indians. Now our talents can better be used in amassing public support for our claim to this land." After several years spent raising awareness and funds, the UAITF opened the Daybreak Star Cultural Center in 1977, directed by Mr. Whitebear until his death in 2000. As of 2021, the Daybreak Star Cultural Center 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.

Caption information source: "MP Now Knows 'How Custer Felt:' He Shouted 'Stop,' but Indians Swarmed Into Fort," by Hilda Bryant, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, April 3, 1970, page 3.
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.