• Mapping American Social Movements Through the 20th Century

• Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project

• Great Depression in Washington State Project

• Strikes! Labor History Encyclopedia for the Pacific Northwest

• IWW History Project

• Seattle General Strike Project

• Communism in Washington State - History and Memory Project

• Waterfront Workers History Project

• Antiwar and Radical History Project--Pacific Northwest

• Upton Sinclair's End Poverty in California Campaign

• Labor Press Project

• America's Great Migrations

Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project

The civil rights movement in Seattle started well before the celebrated struggles in the South in the 1950s and 1960s and the Seattle movement relied not just on African American activists but also Filipino Americans, Japanese Americans, Chinese Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans. This site features video oral histories from more than 80 civil rights activists; hundreds of photos and documents; reports on dozens of organizations and campaigns; an extensive section on the history of "Segregated Seattle," including a database of racial restrictive housing covenants that are still to be found in deeds throughout the greater Seattle area.

Great Depression in Washington State Project

The Great Depression first shattered and then rebuilt the economy of Washington State, leaving it with roads, bridges, dams, and a new electric grid that set the stage for rapid industrial growth. It rearranged the state's politics, ending decades of Republican rule, setting up a powerful labor movement, a new Democratic Party, and a new set of political priorites. This project multimedia web project explores this important decade. Here you will find detailed accounts of issues, incidents, institutions, and people, along with hundreds of photographs, documents, and news articles from the period.

Seattle General Strike of 1919 Project

The Seattle General Strike of 1919 was the first city-wide strike anywhere in the United States to be proclaimed a "general strike." This project explores the strike and the early 20th century history of labor and radicalism in the state of Washington. Here you will find rare film footage, photographs, documents, political cartoons, and contemporary newspaper reports. In addition we explore the event and its historical background in nearly two dozen research essays. Topics include:  "African Americans and the Seattle Labor Movement," "Spying on Labor: The Seattle Minute Men," "The International Union of Timberworkers," "The University of Washington: Henry Suzzallo and the General Strike,"  "The IWW in the General Strike,"  and others.

Waterfront Workers History Project

The West Coast connects to the world through its ports. Ships have been the economic lifeblood of the West Coast since the early 19th century, and the ports where goods and people move from water to land and from land to water have keyed important parts of the the history of this region. This project explores this vital history, focusing first on the men and women who have worked in the ports, the inland waterways, the fisheries, canneries, and other waterfront industries of California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and Alaska. Strikes and struggles for workplace rights have been part of that history and waterfront workers have created some of the most influential labor unions anywhere, including the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU).

Pacific Northwest Antiwar and Radical History Project

Antiwar movements have never been separate from movements for civil rights, union recognition, and social change. In the Pacific Northwest, labor unions and socialists played a large part in the movement against World War I, while civil rights activism paved the way for the growth of the antiwar movement during the Vietnam era. This project multimedia web project chronicles the rich history of antiwar activity in the Northwest with video oral histories, hundreds of photographs and documents, GI underground newspapers, movement biographies, and research reports.           

Communism in Washington State History and Memory Project

Communism made a larger impact on Washington than almost any other state. "There are forty-seven states in the Union, and the Soviet of Washington," Postmaster General James Farley joked in 1936. The remark, for all its exaggeration, had some foundation. This project explores the controversial history of the Communist Party in the Pacific Northwest from 1919 to the present. Here you will find video oral histories with CP veterans, historical essays covering each decade of Communist activities, more than 200 photographs, political cartoons, and newspaper headlines, a Who's Who, and an historical timeline.

IWW History Project--The Industrial Workers of the World 1905-1935

This project explores the history of the IWW in its first three decades. We have compiled a database of hundreds of strikes, campaigns, arrests, and other incidents involving IWW members and present this information both yearbook format and in elaborate interactive maps. Here you will also find accounts of important events and a wealth of photographs and documents.

Upton Sinclair's End Poverty in California Campaign

Upton Sinclair's 1934 campaign for governor of California has been called "the Campaign of the Century." One of the most dramatic and influential contests in that state's history, it helped change the political landscape of the nation. This project explores the campaign and the End Poverty in California (EPIC) program that captured international attention in 1934.

Strikes! Labor History Encyclopedia for the Pacific Northwest

This project assembles the most extensive online collection of materials about labor history for this, or any other, region. Here you will find detailed information and primary sources about key historical events, including the Seattle General Strike of 1919, the unemployed movements and labor crusades of the 1930s, farmworker campaigns from the 1930s to 1980s, timber worker unions, waterfront strikes, Filipino cannery worker unions, the Industrial Workers of the World, and the history-making WTO confrontation of 1999.

Labor Press Project

Labor media has been a critical part of American labor movements since the early 19^th century and an equally critical part of the history of American journalism. This project brings together information about the history and ongoing influence of newspapers and periodicals published by unions, labor councils, and radical organizations in the Pacific Northwest. Here you will find facsimile images from and detailed historical reports over 30  historical and contemporary labor newspapers including the Seattle Union Record, The Industrial Worker, The Socialist, The Agitator,  Voice of Action, Portland Labor Press, Philippine-American Chronicle, Washington Teamster,  and The Timber Worker, just to name a few.

Mapping American Social Movements through the Twentieth Century

Our newest project is assembling data and interactive maps showing the activist geography of dozens of social movements that have influenced American life and politics during the 20th century, including radical movements, labor movements, women's movements, many different civil rights movements, environmentalist movements, and more.

America's Great Migrations

Twentieth century America witnessed a number of Great Migrations, that helped reshape culture, politics, or economic structures. This project explores several of them, including the Great Migration of African Americans out of the South, the diaspora of whites from the same region, and the Dust Bowl migration to California from Oklahoma and neighboring states in the 1930s.

LGBTQ Activism in Seattle History Project

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer people have been visible and politically active in Seattle for generations. Their activism has yielded pioneering civil rights victories. This special section explores the history of the LGBTQ activism in Seattle and western Washington.