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American Jewish Committee, Seattle Regional Office

The Greater Seattle Chapter of the American Jewish Committee was formed in January 1946. The organization was an affiliate of the national organization established in New York in 1906 following a wave of Russian pogroms. In 1946, just after World War II and the disastrous holocaust in which millions of Jews were killed, waves of Jewish immigrants were pouring into America. The national organization took on the mission of safeguarding the rights and freedoms of Jews worldwide.
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Buxbaum, Edith (1902-1982)

The Viennese-born psychoanalyst Edith Buxbaum, author of Your Child Makes Sense (1949) and Troubled Children in a Troubled World (1970), arrived in Seattle on January 1, 1947. She was a leading psychoanalyst here for more than 30 years and was a principal founder of the Seattle Psychoanalytic Institute (later renamed Seattle Institute of Psychoanalysis [SIP]). She served as its Child Analysis Division Head and as Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Washington. Her devotion to children, her desire to improve the quality of their lives and, thus, better the world, by emphasizing the child's individuality and creativity -- with more listening, less discipline, a nuclear family with the mother preferably at home -- informed her philosophy and practice.
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Civic Unity Committee in Seattle

In January 1944, Mayor William F. Devin (Seattle mayor, 1942-1952) formed Seattle's Civic Unity Committee to manage and assuage growing fears of racial violence. Riots in Detroit, Harlem, and Los Angeles snatched away Seattle's false security blanket, forcing a close examination of race relations. The Civic Unity Committee, modeled after similar committees in Detroit and New York, was a multiracial citizen task force. The committee advised the mayor, conducted consciousness-raising programs on racism, and produced a monthly newsletter, Fair Play, to celebrate positive civic actions.
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Dewitty, Thelma (1912-1977)

Thelma Dewitty was the first black teacher to be hired by the Seattle Public Schools. She joined the corps in September 1947, after intervention on her behalf by the Seattle Urban League, NAACP, the Civic Unity Committee, and Christian Friends for Racial Equality.
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Douglas County -- Thumbnail History

Douglas County is a predominantly rural county located in north central Washington. Waterville is the county seat. The county's proximity to Grand Coulee Dam just over the county line (spanning the Columbia River between Okanogan and Grant counties), as well as the four Columbia River dams within the county have over time provided work for thousands of Douglas County residents. The county comprises 1821 square miles, and ranks 17th in size among Washington's 39 counties. The Columbia River, either flowing through its channel or constricted in equalizing reservoirs behind dams, almost completely encircles Douglas County, which is bordered by Chelan County to the west, Okanogan County to the north, Grant County to the east/southeast, and a small part of Kittitas County to the south. As of June 2006 Douglas County had an estimated population of 35,700. East Wenatchee (population 11,420) and Bridgeport (population 2075) are the largest towns. Agriculture, especially apple, pear, and cherry orchards, and wheat, provides a significant percentage of the county's employment.
File 7961: Full Text >

Eckstein, Nathan (1873-1945)

Nathan Eckstein was a prominent Seattle citizen who came to the region after being in the grocery business for 10 years in New York. He married Mina Schwabacher in 1902 and served as vice president and then chief executive officer of Schwabachers and Co., one of the oldest business houses in Seattle. He was a member of the Seattle School Board (1913-1920), chairman of the Washington State Tax Commission (1921-1922), Campaign Chairman for the Seattle Community Fund which was the forerunner of United Way (1924, 1925), and a member of the commission to revise the City Charter (1925). On acceptance of the 1926 "Seattle's Most Useful Citizen" award, Nathan Eckstein stated "To be a useful citizen is more than a duty, it is a high privilege." Nathan Eckstein Junior High is named after him.
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First African Methodist Episcopal Church (Seattle)

The First African Methodist Episcopal Church, located at 1522 14th Avenue, is the oldest black church in Seattle. Established in 1886 it was designated a Seattle landmark in 1984.
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Hendrix, Jimi (1942-1970)

Jimi Hendrix, 30 years after his death, is considered a major force in twentieth century music. He was born and raised in Seattle where he learned to play guitar for high school dances. Although he was self-taught and could not read music, he is now (2005) recognized as a musical genius. He is noted for his speed and precision in playing, his control of feedback as a melodic element, and his ability to dance, sing, and play, all at the same time. Although celebrated as a premier Northwest artist, Hendrix's relationship with his home town was conflicted and perhaps distant.
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International District / Chinatown Branch, The Seattle Public Library

Located at 713 8th Avenue S in the International District Village Square II, the International District/Chinatown Branch, The Seattle Public Library, opened on June 11, 2005. Financed by the "Libraries for All" building program, the $735,000 branch is the first Seattle Public Library to be built in the International District/Chinatown neighborhood. The branch specializes in materials in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese and English; staff members are fluent in Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean, Vietnamese, Tagalog, and Lao.
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Muckleshoot Indian Tribe

The Muckleshoot Indian tribe is an amalgam of several Native American tribes that have inhabited the region surrounding the White and Green rivers for centuries. Located on a six square mile reservation between Auburn and Enumclaw, the tribe numbers in the thousands, and employs most of its members through fisheries, gaming, small business, and tribal government.
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NAACP, Seattle Branch

The Seattle Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded on October 23, 1913, and became the first of the national civil rights organizations to be established in the city. The national NAACP was founded on February 12, 1909, and established its national office in New York in 1910.
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National Council of Jewish Women, Seattle Section

The National Council of Jewish Women, Seattle section, founded in 1900, is a volunteer organization inspired by Jewish values that works to improve the quality of life for women, children, and families. The Seattle section's most significant undertaking of the first half of the century, was the establishment of Settlement House, through which hundreds of new immigrants received medical and employment assistance, legal services, social orientation, and education. The organization has also advocated for reproductive choice, for fair treatment for Japanese-Americans and Soviet Jews, and for childcare.
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Newcastle Cemetery

In 1863, coal was discovered in the Newcastle, Washington area, located 10 miles southeast of Seattle between Bellevue and Renton. The Newcastle Cemetery was founded there to meet the needs of the miners. The first burial took place in 1879, and the most recent in 1979. A local association currently (1999) oversees the cemetery.
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Pratt, Edwin T. (1930-1969)

Edwin T. Pratt was the Executive Director of the Seattle Urban League, a member of the Central Area Civil Rights Organization, and a leader in the struggle for integrated housing and education in Seattle. He was shot and killed by an unknown assailant on January 26, 1969.
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Seattle Sephardim: Early Beginnings

In June 1902, the first Sephardic Jews, Solomo Calvo (d. 1964) and Jacob Policar (d. 1961), arrived in Seattle from Marmara, Turkey. In 1904, Nissim Alhadeff arrived from the Isle of Rhodes. As economic and political conditions in the Ottoman Empire deteriorated, and as Jews became newly subject to the draft there, immigration increased. By 1914, Sephardic Jews had founded three synagogues in Seattle.
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Seattle's Neighborhood House (Settlement House)

The Seattle Section of the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) founded Settlement House in 1906. (Settlement House was renamed Neighborhood House in 1947). They founded it on the model established by Toynbee Hall in London (1884) and on Jane Addams' Hull House in Chicago (1889). Settlement houses were part of a social reform movement to address problems resulting from industrialization, immigration, and crowded tenements. Seattle's Settlement House was a neighborhood center for Jewish immigrants that provided hundreds of new arrivals with medical and employment assistance, legal services, social orientation, and education. A key leader was Babette (Schwabacher) Gatzert.
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Smith, Sam (1922-1995)

Sam Smith was the first black person to be elected to the Seattle City Council and the second black State Legislator from King County. He has been credited with helping to bridge the political and cultural gap between the white and black communities.
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Southeast Asian Americans

Never in the history of the United States have so many people come from the same region in so short a time under such dire circumstances as did the Southeast Asian refugees in the decade after 1975. Once in this country, the refugees and their families overcame great obstacles to learn English, educate their children, and achieve a degree of economic success.
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Stroum Jewish Community Center of Greater Seattle

The Seattle-area Stroum Jewish Community Center, founded in 1946, began as a social and recreational club for Jews barred from membership in non-Jewish clubs. It has evolved into a center for the revitalization of Jewish identity and community. It has two facilities, one in Seattle (at 2618 NE 80th Street) and the other on Mercer Island (3801 East Mercer Way). Programs include sports and fitness for all ages, classes in Hebrew and in Yiddish, a Kindergarten enrichment program, seniors clubs, and many activities for teens.
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Temple de Hirsch - Sinai

Temple de Hirsch, located in Seattle, was founded in 1899 on principles of reform Jewish thought. Today (in the early twenty-first century) Temple de Hirsch-Sinai is the largest Reform congregation in the Pacific Northwest and celebrated its centennial in 1999.
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