- Seattle Black Panthers
- Seattle Black Panther Party
- Black Panther Party Seattle Chapter (1968-1978) (HistoryLink.org)
The Seattle Chapter of the Black Panther Party was the party’s first outside California and the second outside Oakland, where the party was founded in 1966. Nineteen-year-old Aaron Lloyd Dixon (b. 1949) was appointed captain of the Seattle chapter by party co-founder Bobby Seale (b. 1936) at the Dixon family home in Seattle’s Madrona neighborhood in April 1968, a week after Dixon and other young activists from Seattle met Seale and other Panthers at a conference in California. Within two years the Seattle chapter grew from a neighborhood storefront office to a main headquarters providing free breakfasts for schoolchildren, free transportation to visit family members in prison, and a free medical clinic. The Seattle Black Panther Party disbanded in 1978 after 10 years serving the community.
- Seattle Black Panther Party protests gun-control bill in Olympia on February 28, 1969. (historylink.org)
On February 28, 1969, eight Black Panthers from the party’s Seattle chapter arrive in Olympia and stand on the steps of the state capitol building holding rifles and shotguns to protest a bill passed by the legislature the day before that would make it a misdemeanor to exhibit firearms or other weapons in a manner manifesting intent to intimate others. A Washington State Patrol officer asks the Panthers to unload their weapons and they do. After Seattle chapter captain Aaron Dixon (b. 1949) reads a statement to the legislature, the Panthers leave the capitol grounds and return to Seattle. The dramatic protest notwithstanding, Governor Dan Evans (1925-2024) signs the gun-control measure into law that same day.
- Donkey Kong (1981 video game) (Wikipedia)
Donkey Kong is a 1981 arcade video game developed and published by Nintendo. As Mario (also sometimes known at the time as “Jumpman”), the player runs and jumps on platforms and climbs ladders to ascend a construction site and rescue Pauline from a giant gorilla, Donkey Kong. It is the first game in the Donkey Kong series and Mario’s first appearance in a video game.
