Shelf Life Community Story Project
Amplifying community voices, learning from neighborhood stories, and interrupting narratives of erasure in Seattle's Central District.
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Seattle Central Lockdown

Photo by Jill Freidberg

Photo by Jill Freidberg

Vicky Garner moved to Seattle from Texas, when she was 7 years old, and spent most of her life living at 20th and Marion.

Vicky Garner

I remember the riots that kinda broke out. It was like, my mom, “You’re not going anywhere!” Then when I got in Seattle Central, I remember we did uh, we were forming a Black Student Union, and Larry Gossett was one of the people that helped form the Black Student Union. And we walked out of school one day, in protest of the Dean, and we chained the doors. We could see these big black cars, and flash bulbs going off, and it’s like, “Is that the news people?” And some woman said, “No, honey. That’s the FBI. You’re gonna have a file with them!”