Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project facts for kids

The Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project is a special project that explores the history of social movements and workers' rights in the Pacific Northwest. It's led by Professor James N. Gregory from the University of Washington. This project is a great example of teamwork between community groups, university teachers, and students. It has become a model for similar history projects across the United States and has helped people in Seattle understand more about race and civil rights.

What You Can Find Here

This project offers lots of interesting information! You can find over 70 interviews where people share their stories, along with short video clips and quick facts about their lives. There's also a list of old Civil Rights organizations, information about newspapers from different cultural groups in Seattle, and helpful lesson plans for teachers. You can watch films and slideshows, and read detailed stories about different events, issues, and people from history. Everything is shown with lots of photos and old newspaper articles.

Special History Sections

The project has nine special sections that dive deep into Seattle's rich history of Civil Rights and labor activism. These sections include detailed reports, personal interviews, photo collections, and important documents. You can learn about:

• Farm workers in Washington State
• The Ku Klux Klan in Washington (a group known for its harmful beliefs)
• The Seattle Black Panther Party (a group that worked for Black civil rights)
• Filipino Cannery Unions (groups of workers who joined together)
• The Washington Chicano movement (a movement for Mexican American rights)
• The 1907 Bellingham anti-Asian riots (sad events where people attacked Asian communities)
• The Congress of Racial Equality in Seattle (a group that fought for equal rights)
• The Black Student Union at the University of Washington
• The United Construction Workers Association

One section about how housing was unfairly separated by race in Seattle even got media attention. It helped change state laws, making it easier for neighborhoods to remove old rules that were unfair to certain groups of people.

Learning for Students

The project offers nine complete lesson plans for middle school and high school students. These plans were created by teachers in Washington and can be used for single classes or longer study units. They are designed to help students think critically and meet state learning goals. For example, some lessons cover 'Martin Luther King’s Controversial Visit to Seattle' or 'School Segregation in Seattle' (which means schools were unfairly separated by race).

Chicano/a Movement in Washington State

The Chicano/a Movement in Washington State History Project is a special part of the Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project. It's a multimedia resource that explores the history of activism by Chicano/a people (Americans of Mexican descent). It includes first-hand interviews, original documents, and academic research. This project traces how the movement grew in the Yakima Valley and at the University of Washington in Seattle. It's connected to the Farm Workers in Washington State History Project.

What's Inside This Section

This part of the project focuses on several important organizations. These include:

• United Mexican American Students (UMAS)
• The Brown Berets
• MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicana/o de Aztlan)
• United Farmworker Cooperative
• El Teatro del Piojo
• El Centro de la Raza
• The Concilio for Spanish Speaking
• SEAMAR Community Health Centers
• Radio station KDNA

The stories of these groups are brought to life with video interviews, photos from personal collections, and digital copies of old pamphlets and documents. There's a detailed timeline covering the years 1960-1985. An illustrated essay explains the period from when the movement started in 1967 to the large protests about immigration in 2006. Plus, the site has a database of over 300 digital newspaper articles from 1968 to 1979. Just like other parts of the Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project, this section also has lesson plans for middle school and high school teachers to use the materials.