In March of 1968 two Black students, cousins Charles Oliver and Trolice Flavors, were suspended from Seattle's Franklin High School after an altercation with a white student, who was not reprimanded. Franklin's outraged Black students, with the help of UW Black Student Union (BSU) activists Carl Miller, Aaron Dixon and Larry Gossett, planned a peaceful demonstration at the school to make their point that racial discrimination would no longer be tolerated within the Seattle Public school system. The March 29 sit-in lasted several hours, and ended peacefully when school officials, mediators, and students arranged a meeting for the following Monday to discuss the demands and the issue of racial discrimination in Seattle schools. At that hearing, however, Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Forbes Bottomly implied that charges would be pressed against the UW BSU leaders for their role in the protest.

On April 4, Carl Miller, Aaron Dixon, Larry and Richard Gossett, and Trolice Flavors were arrested for their participation in the Franklin High School sit-in. In June, Miller, Dixon, and Larry Gossett were found guilty of unlawful assembly and sentenced to 6 months in prison. The verdict created anger and frustration in Seattle's Black community, resulting in riots in some Seattle areas. The men were freed on bail raised by the newly formed Seattle chapter of the Black Panther Party and other donors, and the case was dropped after prosecutors failed to pursue the retrial ordered by an appeals court in 1971.

This photo shows Carl Miller at King County jail around the time of his arrest for unlawful assembly in connection with the Franklin High School sit-in.

Caption information source: The Franklin High School Sit-in by Tikia Gilbert, from the University of Washington Seattle Civil Rights & Labor History Project, http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/BSU_Franklin.htm