Report of CORE's March 22, 1964 sit-in at discriminatory realtor Picture Floor Plans
Since their inception, Seattle CORE had focused the majority of their energy on protesting discriminatory employment and housing practices. When the March 1964 open housing measure was defeated on Seattle's ballot, CORE turned to direct action pickets, boycotts, and sit-ins of Picture Floor Plans, a realtor who refused to rent to African-Americans. The rallies against Picture Floor Plans signified a shift away from the "polite and respectable" public image national CORE cultivated and toward more militant tactics, as activists found that polite negotiations yielded little results. [Digitization of documents courtesy of the Special Collections Library, University of Washington (CORE, Seattle Chapter Records, 1961-1970, Manuscript Collection 1563). Copyright (c) reserved.]