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Seattle



  • Big Win for Victims of Restrictive Covenants

    by James Gregory

    Restrictive covenants and other housing policies created a housing market defined by racial segregation and locked generations of Black Americans out of wealth-building. Now courts frown on race-aware remedies for past discrimination. Has the state of Washington figured out a way around that to deliver reparations? 



  • Beware "Rising Crime" Rhetoric in Seattle Politics

    by Dan Berger

    Progressive prosecutor candidates like Nicole Thomas-Kennedy in Seattle reflect a growing social movement to reverse decades of failed "tough on crime" policies that have accomplished little but swell the ranks fo the incarcerated, says a historian of crime and punishment.



  • Don’t Be Fooled by Seattle’s Police-Free Zone

    by Margaret O'Mara

    Protest is forcing our city to reckon with truths that can and should make white citizens like me uncomfortable, and that remind us just how much Seattle is like the rest of America: impossibly divided, and impossibly full of hope.



  • From Segregation to Gentrification

    by Mike Green

    Lessons from Seattle and Detroit: How city policies and NIMBYism lead to unimpeded market forces displacing poor people of color.

  • "Cities are the Living Embodiments of Past Decisions"

    by Robin Lindley

     Children in wading pool at Cascade Playground, Seattle, 1939. All photos credit Seattle Museum of History and Industry.Stories about place are makeshift things. They are composed with the world’s debris.--Michel de CerteauIn most undergraduate history classes, students are required to take tests and write a paper or two.But University of Washington history professor Dr. Margaret O’Mara wanted to tap into her students’ curiosity and their relationship with the web and technology for her history of U.S. Cities course last winter.To bring urban history to life for her students and encourage them to explore and see their world in new ways, Dr. O’Mara created an innovative project that focused on Seattle’s dynamic South Lake Union neighborhood, now an area of high-tech businesses, medical clinics, trendy eateries, and pricey real estate.