Image: "Afro-Americans" float in Golden Potlatch parade, Seattle, July 1911 (MOHAI 5590)

Description: The Tilikums of Elttaes were a fraternal, civic organization composed primarily of influential white Seattle area businessmen, who used Native American imagery to promote tourism and the economic development of the city. In July 1911 the Tilikums ("Friends" in Chinook Jargon; Elttaes is Seattle spelled backward) organized the first Golden Potlatch celebration. The Golden Potlatch was a city-wide festival held in July organized by civic boosters hoping to capitalize on the success of the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition of 1909. The event continued for each of the next three summers before being suspended during wartime, and then was started up again as the Potlatch Festival from 1934 to 1941. The name “Golden Potlatch” appropriates a Chinook Jargon word describing a Native ceremony of celebration and gift giving. It also reflects the importance of the Klondike gold rush to Seattle’s growth. Many organizers and participants in the Golden Potlatch dressed in stereotyped imitations of traditional Native attire, as part of a created Potlatch myth. The appropriation of Native culture in order to market products or events was one common example of discrimination and marginalization faced by Native peoples in the United States. In this photograph, a group of African American girls ride in a car decorated with ribbons and a banner reading "Afro-Americans" during the parade along First and Second Avenues in downtown Seattle. The photographer identification is based on the resemblance of the numbering system and handwriting to attributed photos in the collection. Caption information source: HistoryLink.org and The Seattle Daily Times, July 20, 1911. Subjects (LCTGM): African Americans--Washington (State)--Seattle; Automobiles--Washington (State)--Seattle; Children--Washington (State)--Seattle; Floats (Parades)--Washington (State)--Seattle; Parades & processions--Washington (State)--Seattle; Potlatch (Festival) (1911: Seattle, Wash.); Potlatch--Washington (State)--Seattle
Title: "Afro-Americans" float in Golden Potlatch parade, Seattle, July 1911
Credit: Museum of History and Industry
Author: Frank H. Nowell
Permission: This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1927.
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No