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    Seattle Municipal Archives Feature: Bernie Whitebear, Native American Leader

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    For most of his life, activist and community leader Bernie Whitebear (1937-2000) of the Lakes Tribe (one of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation) worked for social change and justice for the native people of Seattle and the Pacific Northwest. Whitebear made many contributions to improving rights for Native Americans in Seattle and, in these activities, had many interactions with City government on various projects.In 1970, Whitebear left a job at Boeing to join the first free healthcare clinic for Native Americans in Seattle, becoming the first executive director in 1971. Whitebear is perhaps most well known for his leadership in the occupation at Fort Lawton to reclaim land in Discovery Park for the Daybreak Star Center. In 1970, to help accomplish this land transfer and to unify native people in the region, he co-founded the United Indians of All Tribes Foundation (UIATF).Influenced by Indians of All Tribes and its occupation of Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, the UIATF took action to occupy land at Fort Lawton. Jane Fonda participated in the occupation, bringing the protest to the world stage.


    Dept. of Parks and Recreation Facilities Maintenance and Devleiopment, Record Series 5804-05, Box 16 Folder 3. Seattle Municipal Archives

    Seattle Times, March 9, 1970.

     

     

     

     

    A manifesto by Whitebear on behalf of the UIATF to the City on March 24, 1970 stated “Since there is no place for Indians to assemble and carry on tribal ways and beliefs here in the white man’s city, we therefore, plan to develop: A Center for Native American Studies….,A great Indian University…..An Indian Center of Ecology…..An Indian School….An Indian Restaurant.”

    “We entered our land,” Whitebear told reporters. “We are the natural inhabitants. We cannot enter our land illegally.”

    After weeks of picketing and demonstrations at the local and federal level, negotiations resulted in a 99-year lease for an Indian cultural center on 16 acres (later expanded to 20 acres) in what would become Discovery Park. A ceremony on November 15, 1971 marked the agreement. In attendance were Senator Henry M. Jackson, Bernie Whitebear, Joyce Reyes of the American Indian Women’s League, and Mayor Wes Uhlman.

    Whitebear was selected CEO of the UIATF and successfully coordinate fundraising for the building that became Daybreak Star Cultural Center.

    Preliminary plans for Daybreak Star, Record series 5804-05 box 16 Folder 5.

     

     

     

     

     

    Among other community service, Whitebear was a member of the Seattle Arts Commission from 1976 to 1978 and the Seattle Downtown Housing Advisory Task Force from 1989 to 1991.
    City Council honored Whitebear with a Resolution in 2000, declaring July 17 “Bernie Whitebear Remembrance Day” for his tireless work on behalf of Native Americans. Among the many other recognitions he received in his lifetime were: an Eagle Spirit Award from the American Indian Film Institute, a Life Achievement Award from the Boeing Employees Event Staff, a Citizen of the Decade State of Washington Governor’s Award, a University of Washington Distinguished Alumnus Award, and a Distinguished Citizen Medal from the City of Seattle.In 2003 the Leschi Community Council received a Neighborhood Matching Fund grant to create a Dreamcatcher memorial to two American Indian leaders: Bernie Whitebear and Luana Reyes. Located at 32nd and Yesler Way, the artwork serves as an ongoing commemoration of Indian culture and as a focus for ongoing education. The Community Council worked with the Seattle Department of Transportation which owned the property; the artist, Lawney Reyes; and Arai/Jackson Architects and Planners to design the maintenance free and meaningful work of art to honor Reyes and Whitebear.

     

     
    Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, Record series 5756-03. Box 44 Folder 16.

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    Archives Find of the Month: McMahon’s New York Circus, 1892

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    In preparation for what would be his third summer setting up shop in Seattle, John McMahon purchased a circus license from the city for $50. The license gave him permission for two performances of his McMahon’s New York Circus, on May 14 and 15, 1892.

    From what we can tell, the May 14 performance went off as expected. However, according to a letter McMahon wrote to the Mayor and Common Council, the city’s “authorized officials prevented said exhibition” on the 15th. He claimed this cost him several hundred dollars, and asked that his $50 license fee be returned to him. The Committee on Police, License, and Revenue considered his request, but stated that since the circus “gave part of a performance on May 15th and did not return money collected,” they advised against granting the petition.

    Two weeks after the shortened performance, the Council considered the following resolution: “Resolved, By the City Council that the license heretofore issued to McMahon’s Circus, be and is hereby directed to be revoked, and that the license officer be directed to collect the amount provided by ordinance for a circus license, to wit – one thousand dollars per day + fine said circus company.” The resolution was indefinitely postponed and not voted up or down.

    The Post-Intelligencer did not report on the shutdown of the circus in Seattle or the dispute with the Council, so the back story to these events remains unclear. The circus had gotten good reviews in other cities, with particular praise for McMahon’s bareback riding skills and his trained elephants. The Tacoma Daily news said the circus had “the finest railroad cars, the finest ring horses and the finest elephants in the world.” The only hint of trouble in area newspapers was a May 12 mention of financial trouble reportedly caused by a “wicked advance agent who ran away with the funds of the show.”

    McMahon’s story ended six months later, when the Tacoma Daily News reported that he had died of consumption on a train en route to Chicago.

    National Disability Employment Awareness Month

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    Seattle City Councilmember Jeanette Williams

    Jeanette Williams championed rights for women, people of color and the disabled.  Although the Washington State Legislature passed laws in 1967 and in 1971 (RCW 70.92 and RCW 7092A) requiring public buildings and public accommodations be built with barrier-free design to accommodate the disabled, the regulations were rarely enforced.

    Stating that the disabled are “the forgotten people,” Williams succeeded in getting legislation passed requiring wheel chair ramps on all street improvement projects in 1972.

    Williams requested in February 1973 that access to City Hall be improved by reserving two parking spaces, making restrooms accessible, and installing a payphone within 40 inches above the floor as part of her effort to remove architectural barriers to the disabled from public buildings.  “Although the City has hired several handicapped people, there are still tremendous physical barriers to their employment,” she stated.

    In October 1973, Williams helped organize a morning for Councilmembers to spend in a wheel chair as part of “Employ the Handicapped Week,” known as Sensitivity Day ’73.  Councilmembers gained insight into barriers for the disabled:  John Miller couldn’t get around a table, Wayne Larkin couldn’t maneuver his wheelchair out of a crowded room, and backing into an elevator was problematic for Jeanette Williams.

    At Williams’ request in 1974, the Building Department agreed to support an ordinance amending the Building code to provide for barrier-free design.  Williams also sponsored amendments to the Seattle Fair Employment Practices Ordinance to include protections against discrimination against the disabled.  The following year, Williams spearheaded an effort to provide greater accessibility to polling places.

    Despite these efforts, Williams received letters of complaint.  In 1984 a landlord wrote in to say: “Now I see you have a new idea even crazier than those of the past, to wit, making us landlords put in ramps, remodel kitchens and doors and bathrooms for the benefit of ethereal tenants who may solidify sometime into actual rent-paying bodies.  Have you remodeled a bathroom lately? Destroyed a landscape with a ramp? If you people are so crazy about the handicapped why not spend your own money – don’t lay it on us landlords to do it.  I’m only waiting for you to name something else after the sainted M. L. King that will cost a bundle.”

    The ease with which the disabled can live and work in Seattle is due in large part to the work of Jeanette Williams.

     

    Additional Resources:

    Hispanic Heritage Month

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    Seattle Municipal Archives Feature

    Social justice activist Roberto Maestas (1938-2010) testified at many public hearings and Seattle City Council meetings. He lent his voice to the fight for the establishment of El Centro in 1972 and in support of many other organizations in the struggle for civil rights in Seattle.

    In 1973, Maestas spoke at a public hearing advocating for a day care and health clinic. His full comments can be read and heard here.

    A partial transcript follows:

    "My name is Roberto Maestas. I support the Minority Coalition for an Equitable Revenue Sharing System of course, but I can only speak specifically about our priorities inside that proposal. Our priorities are day care and health this time around. There’s a building on Beacon Hill that we hope to use for putting some badly needed services in there. We’re asking you to make the same kind of priority that we were forced to make in the coalition, that is, we had to leave some badly needed things out in favor of others. I understand that one of your dilemmas has to do with last year’s bills that were going unpaid or unprojected costs. It seems unfair to me that projected revenues should be used to pay old bills, unless I’m incorrect."

    El Centro poster depicting Roberto Maestas found on Flickr Commons.

    In May, 1974 Roberto Maestas wrote to City Council requesting additional Model Cities funding for El Centro.

    (Comptroller/Clerk File 279021)

    Glenn Young, board member of the Cascade Community Council, wrote in support of the request, stating that "the progress of El Centro has been amazing and very remarkable for an institution with such a short history." City Council and the Mayor approved the additional funding.

    Seattle City Council issued a proclamation in 2007 honoring the staff and volunteers at El Centro de la Raza. The proclamation read, in part:

    • El Centro de la Raza, grounded in the Latino community, seeks to build unity across all racial and economic sectors, to organize, empower, and defend the most vulnerable and marginalized populations and to bring justice, dignity, equality, and freedom to all peoples of the words,
    • The seeds for El Centro were planted on October 11, 1972 through a peaceful sit-in at Beacon Hill Elementary School lead by Roberto Maestas, who brought together black, white, Asian-Pacific Islander, Native American, and Latino people to protest cuts in anti-poverty and education programs at South Seattle Community College;
    • From the sit-in, El Centro de la Raza has evolved into a leading force for social justice and steadfast provider of crucial human services and cultural programming for all kinds of people in Seattle, while posing the question: "What Kind of world Will we Leave Our Children?"

    City Council passed a resolution honoring Roberto Maestas in 2010. The resolution gave an honorary designation of a portion of South Lander Street as "Roberto Maestas Festival Street." The Resolution read, in part:

    • Roberto Maestas founded El Centro de la Raza and was executive director of the organization for 37 years
    • El Centro de la Raza is a voice and a hub for the Latino community and provides an array of social, human, and educational services to people of all races and ethnicities
    • Roberto Maestas will be remembered as a tireless, visionary and courageous leader who lived his convictions
    • Roberto Maestas’ work has made Seattle a better place for all of us.

     

     

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    The History of Seattle’s Pride Parade

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    Seattle Municipal Archives Feature

    Seattle celebrated its first Gay Pride Week June 24-30, 1974, with a variety of activities at private and public venues around the city. Mayor Uhlman gave the event official endorsement in 1977, declaring June 25 to July 1 to be Gay Pride Week in the City of Seattle. Keith Luttenbacher, in his July 5, 1977 letter, was one of many who wrote thanking Mayor Uhlman for his support, “especially after the negative press due to Ms. [Anita] Bryant.” Local opponents of gay rights were incensed by the mayor’s proclamation, and reactions ranged from letter-writing campaigns to published threats of recall to picketing outside City Hall. Ultimately, Mayor Uhlman’s endorsement of Gay Pride Week gave added significance to the city’s first Gay Pride March, held in 1977.

    This year’s Seattle Pride Parade will be held in downtown Seattle on Sunday, June 24. The theme is “The Many Faces of Pride.”
     

    		letterLetter from Keith Luttenbacher to Mayor Uhlman, July 5, 1977. Box 61 folder 8, Mayor Uhlman Subject Files, Records Series 4287-02, Seattle Municipal Archives.
    Pride Parade 1993 Pride Parade 1993 Pride Parade 1993
    Pride Parade Photographs, 1993. Box 3 Folder 9, Seattle Office of Human Rights Commission for Lesbians and Gays Subject Files, Record Series 8405-04, Seattle Municipal Archives
     
    Pride Parade 2002
    Gay Pride Parade, 2002
    Item 130661, Seattle Municipal Archives    		 Pride Parade 2011
    Pride Parade, 2011
    Seattle City Council Flickr site

     
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    • Related Collections in the Seattle Municipal Archives

    Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month

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    Seattle Municipal Archives Feature

    In May, we celebrate the contributions and heritage of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States. The commemoration originated in June 1977 as a congressional bill for a one-week celebration, followed by a Senate bill; President Carter signed a Joint Resolution in October 1978. President George H W Bush extended the week-long celebration into a month-long one in 1992. May marked the immigration of the first Japanese to the United States on May 7, 1843, as well as the completion of the transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869. Chinese immigrants made up the majority of workers who laid the tracks.

    Chinese immigrants in Seattle came up against discrimination and the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, suspending immigration of skilled and unskilled Chinese laborers. Japanese immigrant farmers met prejudice at the Pike Place Market in the first half of the 20th century. City Council attempted unsuccessfully to pass a resolution forbidding non-citizen farmers at the market in 1910. The Japanese protested the resulting lottery system for stalls at the market. Discrimination culminated in the removal and internment of Japanese during World War II.

    Seattle’s elected officials slowly began to reflect the city’s Asian community. In 1962, Wing Luke was the first Chinese American in the US mainland to be elected as a City Councilmember. Martha Choe was Seattle’s first Korean-American to serve on City Council, serving from 1992 to 1999.

    In later years, the City of Seattle worked to improve opportunities for Asians and Pacific Islanders in Seattle through various programs. The Seattle Model City Program introduced an English as a Second Language program in the Seattle Public Schools, working with the Greater Seattle Asian American Council to teach both adults and children.

    Seattle’s more recent interactions with the Asian-Pacific American community are documented in the Seattle Municipal Archives Department of Human Services and Housing and Human Services Department records and relate largely to immigrant communities. In 1991, the Department of Human Services administered Families and Education Levy funding to support the involvement of parents in the education of their children; the Asian/Pacific Islander Parent Education Project was an important part of this work.

     

    Farmers, 1936
    Seattle Municipal Archives item no. 10390

     

    Wing Luke stands fifth from left at the opening of a ramp between Jackson and Main on August 29, 1957.
    Seattle Municipal Archives, Item 55218

     

    City Councilmember Martha Choe,
    March 1999
    Seattle Municipal Archives, Item 100210

    The Seattle Department of Housing and Human Services, with support from the US Department of Justice Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, initiated Seattle SafeFutures in 1995, providing community support to youth and families in Asian communities, including a Cambodian Girls’ Group (later Help Each Other Reach the Sky or HERS) and Asian/Pacific Islander Diversion Parent Outreach and Support. Both programs received sustained funds after SafeFutures finished. Program outcomes included high school attendance, better grades and fewer domestic violence issues.

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    Fair Housing Month

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    Seattle Municipal Archives Feature

    President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Right Acts of 1968 on April 11, 1968; Title VIII of the Act is also known as the Fair Housing Act of 1968. April is known as Fair Housing Month for this reason.

    In Seattle, until 1968, it was legal to discriminate against minorities in Seattle when renting apartments or selling real estate. The task of securing legislation to prohibit discrimination in housing began in the late 1950s. It turned out to be a decade-long struggle.

    Restrictive covenants was one method used to keep black families, and often other minorities, out of white neighborhoods in the late 1950s and early 1960s. In 1961 the Seattle branch of the NAACP requested an ordinance prohibiting discrimination in housing. Public hearings, an Advisory Committee on Minority housing, marches and protests helped put the issue on the ballot in 1964. Voters turned the open housing ordinance down in an overwhelming 2 to 1 vote.

    A large, sign-carrying crowd stood peacefully in the Fifth Avenue Plaza at City Hall on July 1, 1963, during a demonstration in support of an open-housing ordinance. Courtesy: Bruce McKim/Seattle Times

    On April 19, 1968, three weeks after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., the City Council unanimously passed Ordinance 96619 "defining and prohibiting unfair housing practices in the sale and offering for sale and in the rental and offering for rent and in the financing of housing accommodations, and defining offenses and prescribing penalties, and declaring an emergency therefore." The ordinance had been sponsored by six of the nine Council members, but the chief architect was first term council member Sam Smith, the first African American to sit on the Council. Smith had previously been a tireless advocate for open housing and fair employment while serving as the first African American member of the Washington State Legislature. The ordinance was signed by the Mayor the same day.

    Mrs. Pearl Warren, director of the Indian Center, addressed City Council during a hearing on the open housing ordinance, April 19, 1968. The ordinance passed unanimously. Council members were seated at right, and about 200 persons were in the Council Chambers. Courtesy: Greg Gilbert / The Seattle Times

    The open housing legislation passed in 1968 was amended in 1975 to include prohibitions against discrimination based on sex, marital status, sexual orientation, and political ideology; and in 1979 to include age and parental status. In 1986, creed, and disability were added as prohibitions on discrimination and in 1999 gender identify was added. Seattle continues to develop strategies to address more covert forms of discrimination in housing today.

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    Captain Beers, Seattle’s First Woman Firefighter

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    Seattle Municipal Archives Feature

    Seattle Councilmember Jeanette Williams, as head of the Human Resources and Judiciary Committee in the 1970s, encouraged the Office of Women’s Rights to work with the Seattle Fire Department regarding their policy on women. In 1974, Mayor Wes Uhlman encouraged Fire Chief Jack Richards to develop a program for women fire fighters. By 1975, the Fire Department began recruiting women.A pre-recruit training program for women was in place by 1977 but several women resigned, one due to injury. Barbara Beers entered the minority male pre-recruit training in June that year, completing it successfully. She entered the Fire Department in January 1978, the first woman in the City to be a fire fighter.

    Her undergraduate degree from the University of Washington (where she played basketball) was in psychology. In a 2009 interview, Beers said she didn’t want to be a nurse or a teacher or a secretary and she wanted to be active. The Fire Department was recruiting and it looked pretty good to her.

    “I didn’t realize everything I did would be watched and be in the paper,” she said. “I really didn’t go into it thinking I was going to be the first woman firefighter…all of it kind of just happened. Everybody said I couldn’t do it, basically. I’m not super big, I’m not super strong-looking….But I’m tall and I’m pretty strong, and I’m really coordinated. So I surprised people…And also, I’m pretty fierce, I’m very dedicated, I have a really good work ethic.”

    Beers mentored incoming female recruits and helped shape the pre-recruit program. Despite early discrimination in the program and outside of the Department, Beers took on the position of being a leader and a pioneer for other women following her as fire fighters. By the late 1980s, the Seattle Fire Department was considered a national model for the recruitment, hiring and retention of women as firefighters.

    By 1992, Beers was the highest ranking woman in any fire department in the US. She was promoted to Captain in 1992 and Battalion Chief in 1996. After 30 years in the Department, she retired in 2008. Councilmember Sally Clark presented Captain Beers with a proclamation from City Council honoring her legacy, stating in part, “Bonnie’s tireless efforts and steadfast pursuit of what she believed in helped her become the first professional female firefighter in Seattle…She is truly a trailblazer and opened the doors for many others.”

    		 Capitan Bonnie Bears

    Firefighter Bonnie Beers.

    Courtesy Jim Loso.
    Recruiting flyerRecruiting flyer, Box 1 Folder 12,

    Office of Women’s Rights Women Firefighters Project Records, 8402-02, Seattle Municipal Archives

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    African American History Month: Councilmember Sam Smith

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    Seattle Municipal Archives Feature

    Councilmember Sam Smith with visitors, May 22, 1989

    Sam Smith with a group of visitors in his office – May 22, 1989

    Sam Smith was born in 1922 in Gibsland, Louisiana, and came to Seattle while serving in the Army during World War II. He earned degrees from Seattle University and the University of Washington, and then worked at Boeing before being elected to represent the 37th District in the Washington State House of Representatives. He served five consecutive terms in the legislature, often focusing on issues important to minority and low-income constituents. In 1967 he became the first African-American elected to the Seattle City Council, and was subsequently reelected five more times. During his 24 years on Council, Smith chaired the Public Safety Committee, Housing and Human Services Committee, Labor Committee, and the Utilities Committee, and was particularly proud of shepherding an open housing ordinance into law. He served as Council President in 1974-1977 and 1986-1989. Smith died in 1995.

    A group of students from [then] Seattle Pacific College, including Santa Claus, presents umbrellas to City Council – Dec. 12, 1977

     

    The Seattle Municipal Archives holds records from his tenure on City Council, including correspondence, subject files, and committee records.  Please see the finding aid, http://nwda-db.wsulibs.wsu.edu/findaid/ark:/80444/xv66704, for more information about these records.

    The Washington State Archives interviewed Smith as part of its oral history program; the transcript of the interview  is available online at http://www.sos.wa.gov/legacyproject/collection/SamSmith.aspx.

    Sam Smith meeting with a group of students (at the conference table in the Municipal Building Chambers) - Oct. 23, 1989