Civil Rights & Labor History Consortium | Photo and Document Gallery | 1919 Seattle General Strike | General Strike photos | Japanese Labor Association supports strike

This building at 204 5th Ave S. marks the site of the Japanese Labor Association which supported the General Strike The first Japanese Labor Association (JLA) in the Pacific Northwest was established in 1906. It ran a labor publication called the Doho, but both the publication and the association ran out of support and lacked the funding needed to continue running. Ten years later, in 1916, a Japanese laborer by the name of Sasaki re-established the JLA and created a new publication called the Rodo. The JLA consisted of several businessmen and Japanese labor unions including the Japanese Barbers’, Dye Workers’, and Restaurant Workers’ Union. Although not associated with the American Federation of Labor (AFL), the JLA and its affiliated labor unions joined the Seattle General Strike in sympathy with the AFL unions. By supporting the white workers of Seattle in the labor dispute, the JLA had opened the door to the possibility of labor integration (though only slightly) for Asian American workers in the Pacific Northwest. Photo courtesy Arkady DeRoest

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