Celebrate the 50th anniversary of El Centro de la Raza

50 years ago today, on October 11, 1972, a group of activists slipped into the abandoned Beacon High School, and settled in to demonstrate the need for educational spaces, services, and opportunities for Seattle’s Latinx community. After three months of peaceful occupation, the City agreed, and El Centro de la Raza was born.

The occupation led to the creation of “The Center for All Races,” a living example of Dr. Martin Luther King’s vision of the Beloved Community, “in which all people can share in the wealth of the earth.” Since its founding, El Centro has been a cultural hub serving speakers of Spanish and other languages, providing classes and social services to all who need them. Published in 2020, the book Seattle’s El Centro de la Raza: Dr. King’s Living Laboratory tells the full story of El Centro’s founding and success, and of all the people who gave their time and energy to building something truly extraordinary. You can also read more about this history on El Centro’s website.

Roberto Maestas (1938-2010), activist and community leader – and a pivotal figure in the occupation and founding of El Centro – was one of the “Gang of Four,” or “Four Amigos,” a coalition of community leaders representing the Latinx, Black, Asian, and Native communities in Seattle. Read more about these inspiring figures and the impact they had on Seattle and its people in The Gang of Four: Four Leaders. Four Communities. One Friendship. Two years prior to the occupation of Beacon High School, Bernie Whitebear – a Gang of Four member representing Native communities in Seattle – led a peaceful occupation that provided Seattle with another cherished community space, the Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center. You can learn more about these community leaders and events on the University of Washington’s extensive Civil Rights & Labor History Project website, which includes video interviews with Maestas and others involved in the Chicano/a Movement in Washington.

Anyone who visits El Centro will see that the Beloved Community is not just an idealistic dream, but rather an attainable possibility. Celebrate Latinx Heritage Month by learning more about the history of peaceful resistance and the love of community that brought about El Centro de la Raza.

Note: The Seattle Public Library will be hosting a Spanish-language program with Seattle Reads author, Luis Alberto Urrea, at El Centro’s community space, Centilia Cultural Center, on Wednesday, October 19.

~ posted by Emily G.