El Centro de la Raza in Seattle, Washington, United States, is an educational, cultural, and social service agency, centered in the Latino/Chicano community and headquartered in the former Beacon Hill Elementary School on Seattle's Beacon Hill. [1] It was founded in 1972 and continues to serve clients in Seattle, King County and beyond. [2] It is considered a significant part of civil rights history in the Pacific Northwest. [3]
In the early 1960s thousands of Latinos in Seattle, nearly all of whom were seeking employment, found themselves lacking a traditional community center: a barrio, with a Latin American-style plaza. [1] In early 1972, the ESL Program at South Seattle Community College suddenly found themselves without a physical home. [4] Inspired by the 1970 occupation by Native Americans of the decommissioned Fort Lawton in Seattle's Magnolia neighborhood, which resulted in the founding of the Daybreak Star Cultural Center, members of the ESL program occupied an empty school building originally built in 1904 in Seattle's Beacon Hill neighborhood that had been closed due to declining student enrollment. [4] [5] On October 11, 1972 the group established itself as El Centro de la Raza.
Leaders of the building takeover quickly won a pledge from Seattle Public Schools superintendent Forbes Bottomly that no effort would be made to evict them by force. The school district even arranged to open a back door for fire safety. The school had a sprinkler system, but its water long had been cut off. [6] After three months of occupying the building and numerous rallies, petitions and letters, the Seattle City Council agreed to hear their case. At one point, pressing for an audience, supporters of the occupation had laid siege to the City Council's chambers. The people who occupied the building joked that they were simply implementing advice from Washington governor Dan Evans, "advocating use of empty schools for community needs, such as child care". [6] The City Council finally approved the lease, but mayor Wes Uhlman vetoed the action. Supporters then occupied the mayor's office and were arrested. An accord was finally reached with a five-year lease signed January 20, 1973 at $1 rent annually. [7]
Cofounder Roberto Maestas, executive director until 2009, worked with community leaders Larry Gossett, Bob Santos, and Bernie Whitebear, also known as the Gang of Four as they established a unique ethnic alliance that lead to the founding of El Centro de la Raza. [8]
More than 20 years later, Maestas would remark, "I found that the only way to get things done in this city is to do it -- and then work it out... It took five to six years for the building to become up to code. Everything had to be repaired, replaced or installed. With the help, love and dedication of the community, the organization's building was refurbished piece by piece. Money was donated. Grants were awarded. Materials were donated, as well. Laborers volunteered time. Plumbers gave services. Heating and plumbing were installed. The roof was fixed. Vinyl siding was put in place. The classrooms were spruced up." [9]
In 2007, El Centro celebrated its 35th anniversary with a gathering of nearly 1,000 people at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle. [1]
During the early 1980s, when the Reagan Administration was supporting the Nicaraguan Contras, El Centro played a major role in convincing the Seattle City Council to adopt Managua as a sister city, despite strong initial opposition from Seattle City Council. El Centro's bond with Nicaragua was forged before the Sandinistas took power in 1979. The relationship between El Centro and Managua began following the 1972 Nicaragua Earthquake and El Centro was able to coordinate relief efforts in the Seattle area.
The organization continued to practice direct action. When the Washington Natural Gas Company cut off El Centro's heat, the teachers and children of the child-development center sat in the office of the CEO of Washington Natural Gas until the gas was restored. [10]
In 2015 El Centro de la Raza built moderately priced apartments south of its main building – 110 units, home to about 350 people. [11] These apartments are designed for families making 30-60 per cent of the average median annual income in Seattle, or $24,000 to $49,000. The apartments have been built within easy access to El Centro de Raza and the Beacon Hill Light Rail station
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Managua is the capital and largest city of Nicaragua, and one of the largest cities in Central America. Located on the shores of Lake Managua, the city had an estimated population of 1,055,247 as of 2020, and a population of 1,401,687 in its metropolitan area. The city also serves as the seat of Managua Department.
M.E.Ch.A. is a US-based organization that seeks to promote Chicano unity and empowerment through political action.
Beacon Hill is a hill and neighborhood in southeastern Seattle, Washington. It is roughly bounded on the west by Interstate 5, on the north by Interstate 90, on the east by Rainier Avenue South, Cheasty Boulevard South, and Martin Luther King Junior Way South, and on the south by the Seattle city boundary. It is part of Seattle's South End.
Roberto Maestas was an American social activist who was prominent between the 1960s and the 1990s in Seattle, Washington. Maestas was a member of the Gang of Four and one of the founders of El Centro de la Raza.
The Brown Berets is a pro-Chicano paramilitary organization that emerged during the Chicano Movement in the late 1960s. David Sanchez and Carlos Montes co-founded the group modeled after the Black Panther Party. The Brown Berets was part of the Third World Liberation Front. It worked for educational reform, farmworkers' rights, and against police brutality and the Vietnam War. It also sought to separate the American Southwest from the control of the United States government.
Beacon Hill School may refer to:
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José Antonio "Tony" Burciaga was an American Chicano artist, poet, and writer who explored issues of Chicano identity and American society.
The Centro Cultural de la Raza is a non-profit organization with the specific mission to create, preserve, promote and educate about Chicano, Mexicano, Native American and Latino art and culture. It is located in Balboa Park in San Diego, California. The cultural center supports and encourages the creative expression “of the indigenous cultures of the Americas.” It is currently a member of the American Alliance of Museums.
The Spanish expression la Raza has historically been used to refer to the mixed-race populations, considered as an ethnic or racial unit historically deriving from the Spanish Empire, and the process of racial intermixing during the Spanish colonization of the Americas with the Indigenous populations of the Americas.
Partido Nacional de La Raza Unida was a Hispanic political party centered on Chicano (Mexican-American) nationalism. It was created in 1970 and became prominent throughout Texas and Southern California. It was started to combat growing inequality and dissatisfaction with the Democratic Party that was typically supported by Mexican-American voters. After its establishment in Texas, the party launched electoral campaigns in Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and California, though it only secured official party status for statewide races in Texas. It did poorly in the 1978 Texas elections and dissolved when leaders and members dropped out.
Alberto Baltazar Urista Heredia, better known by his nom de plume Alurista, is an American poet and activist. His work was influential in the Chicano Movement and is important to the field of Chicano poetry.
Galería de la Raza (GDLR) is a non-profit art gallery and artist collective founded in 1970, that serves the largely Chicano and Latino population of San Francisco's Mission District. GDLR mounts exhibitions, hosts poetry readings, workshops, and celebrations, sells works of art, and sponsors youth and artist-in-residence programs. Exhibitions at the Galería tend to feature the work of minority and developing country artists and concern issues of ethnic history, identity, and social justice.
Ballet Folklorico en Aztlan (BFA) is a Chicano dance company focusing on Mexican folklore, and blending traditional dance with contemporary movements. The group was founded in 1967 by Hermina Enrique. Currently, her daughter, Viviana Enrique Acosta, is the Artistic Director. The members of BFA were instrumental in founding the Centro Cultural de la Raza which was the first home of the BFA.
The Chicano Art Movement represents groundbreaking movements by Mexican-American artists to establish a unique artistic identity in the United States. Much of the art and the artists creating Chicano Art were heavily influenced by Chicano Movement which began in the 1960s.
Bruce Elliott Johansen is an American academic and author. He is the Frederick W. Kayser Professor of Communication at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and is the author or editor of many books and articles, notably on environmental and Native American issues.
Josephine S. "Josie" Talamantez is a historian from San Diego, California. She co-founded Chicano Park in 1970 and helped develop it into a cultural National Historic Landmark containing the largest collection of artistic murals in the United States. Talamantez was also the Chief of Programs for the California Arts Council, served as the director of the Centro Cultural de la Raza, and was on the board of the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture.
Plaza Verde Park is a park established in 1972 in Pueblo, Colorado.
Alfredo Arreguín was a Mexican-American painter, known for pattern-based paintings focused on animals, plants, and the natural world, as well as featuring Mexican cultural heritage.
The current population of Latinos in Washington is about thirteen percent, as of 2023. Being the second largest ethnic group in the state, Latinos have made their mark in the state. From being a part of Spanish expeditions to fighting for workers rights. Latinos have lived in the state before it even became established as one, playing a part in the establishment and culture of the state.
