Pan-Tribal Activism in the Pacific Northwest: The Power of Indigenous Protest and the Birth of Daybreak Star Cultural Center

On September 27, 1975, activist Bernie Whitebear (Sin Aikst) and Seattle Mayor Wes Uhlman broke ground on former Fort Lawton lands, just outside Seattle Washington, for the construction of the Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center. The groundbreaking was the culmination of years of negotiations and legal wrangling between several government entities and the United Indians of All Tribes, the group that occupied the Fort lands in 1970. The peaceful event and sense of co-operation stood in mark...