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Art Fletcher and President George H.W. Bush
Civil-rights leaders Nat and Thelma Jackson and Arthur Fletcher featured in new exhibit

Civil-rights leaders Nat and Thelma Jackson and Arthur Fletcher featured in new exhibit

Profiles of Arthur Fletcher and Nat and Thelma Jackson, three remarkable civil-rights leaders, are the latest chapters in Legacy Washington’s overview of 1968 “The year that Rocked Washington,” an exhibit that will open Sept. 13 at the State Capitol. Change was in the air. Everywhere. It was the year when Vietnam, civil rights, women’s liberation, and conservation coalesced — and a year when tragedy led the 6 o’clock news with numbing regularity.  When Arthur Fletcher announced his candidacy for Washington lieutenant…

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Historic Washington women: Lillian Walker and Bonnie Dunbar

Historic Washington women: Lillian Walker and Bonnie Dunbar

Civil rights pioneer Lillian Walker (Photos courtesy of Legacy Washington) March is Women’s History Month, and you don’t have to look far to find amazing and in-depth stories about notable Washington women who have left their mark. We’re proud that our Legacy Washington team has produced several outstanding biographies and oral histories on women who were trailblazers in one way or another. We’re remembering two pioneering women, one in civil rights, the other in space exploration. Long before Martin Luther…

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From Legacy Washington: Martin Luther King Jr.’s Seattle visit

From Legacy Washington: Martin Luther King Jr.’s Seattle visit

Martin Luther King Jr. delivers a speech during his only visit to Seattle. (Photo courtesy of Washington State Archives) With the nation observing Martin Luther King Jr. Day, it’s worth recalling the time when the civil rights icon paid his lone visit to Seattle, in 1961. The Rev. Dr. Samuel B. McKinney, the Seattle civil rights activist, arranged for King to come to the Emerald City. Legacy Washington’s online profile on Dr. McKinney, released last January, describes what happened when…

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March on Washington, a Washington State Perspective

March on Washington, a Washington State Perspective

From the desk of Rand Simmons As a boy of 12 living in “whitebread” rural Oregon I was little aware of the significance of Wednesday, August 28, 1963. Today we celebrate the 50th anniversary of this significant moment in history most commonly know as the March on Washington. National Public Radio’s Kat Chow wrote: “The summer of 1963 was bursting with drama and would become a pivotal moment of the Civil Rights movement. It was the year that Alabama governor George Wallace tried…

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Beriah Brown and the Puget Sound Dispatch

Beriah Brown and the Puget Sound Dispatch

From the desk of Judy Pitchford The Puget Sound Dispatch, published in Seattle from 1871 to 1880, has been added to the Washington State Library’s Historic Washington Newspapers Online. Published Weekly from 1871 to 1880, the newspaper was launched by Beriah Brown and Charles H. Larrabee in December 1871. Brown, who also served for one term as mayor of Seattle in 1878, was known to be a strongly opinionated editorialist. So much so, that it is sometimes hard to distinguish…

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Lillian Walker, civil rights pioneer, honored

Lillian Walker, civil rights pioneer, honored

It was like a combination of birthday party, book-launch, political rally and roast for a revered old friend. Lillian Walker, who has just turned a feisty 97, was the honoree at a civic event sponsored by Secretary of State Sam Reed, the YWCA and Mrs. Walkers’ numerous friends, family and colleagues in the long struggle for equality for all. Well before Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks were gaining fame, Mrs. Walker and her late husband James were organizing…

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9th Circuit will rehear WA felon voter case

9th Circuit will rehear WA felon voter case

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed to rehear a challenge of Washington’s longstanding ban on voting by felons. Today’s development, handed down in a one-paragraph, three-line order signed by Chief Judge  Alex Kozinski, said the circuit court judges have agreed to rehear the case. No timeline was specified, but Kozinki and 10 judges drawn at random from the circuit will hear the case. Just a few months ago, in January, a three-judge panel from the circuit handed down…

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Legacy Project honors civil rights pioneer

Legacy Project honors civil rights pioneer

Lillian Walker, who has been fighting for civil rights ever since the early 1940s in Bremerton, is the most recent subject of the Office of Secretary of State’s Legacy Project.  Secretary Reed and the Legacy Project team held a reception in her honor on Tuesday to celebrate her story and contribution to Washington State. Read Lillian Walker’s oral history and biography online now for free.