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Tag: President Lyndon B. Johnson

Longtime civil rights sentinels Lem Howell and Larry Gossett attended the 50th anniversary of a March 29, 1968 sit-in at Seattle’s Franklin High School. John Hughes photo
New Capitol exhibit features profiles of civil rights activists Gossett and Howell

New Capitol exhibit features profiles of civil rights activists Gossett and Howell

Profiles of longtime civil rights activists Larry Gossett and Lem Howell are the latest chapters in Legacy Washington’s new project, “1968: The Year that Rocked Washington.” The profiles — part of an exhibit that will open Sept. 13 at the State Capitol — are now online at the project’s homepage. Gossett and Howell took different paths in fighting for civil rights over the last five decades. One thought elections were a bourgeois trap. The other was president of Young Democrats….

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Polly Dyer
Remembering Polly Dyer: New exhibit profiles a Cascades champion

Remembering Polly Dyer: New exhibit profiles a Cascades champion

The ‘American Alps’ were in peril. One of the world’s largest mining companies had designs on excavating within the jagged wilderness known as the North Cascades. A band of conservationists, including the cheerfully tenacious Polly Dyer, had other ideas. Dyer’s living room became a sort of academy for envelope-stuffing, stamp-licking activists who advanced a budding movement of middle-class professionals with the leisure time to defend the natural world. With crucial help from U.S. Senator Henry M. Jackson, they won protection…

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From the Archives: Remembering JFK

From the Archives: Remembering JFK

(Images courtesy of Washington State Archives) One of the darkest dates in U.S. history is upon us. It was on Nov. 22, 1963, when U.S. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated while riding in a motorcade in downtown Dallas, Texas. Kennedy was America’s 35th president. In memory of this shocking and tragic event 50 years ago, our State Archives has retrieved two documents related to the fateful day that shook our nation. Here is the telegram (above) sent to Gov….

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