In early 1969, a group of Seattle Black Panthers gathered on the Legislative Building steps in Olympia to protest a law that made it a crime to exhibit firearms “in a manner manifesting an intent to intimidate others.” The law, which is still on the books, was enacted in response to earlier protests by the Panthers. At the Olympia protest, the Panthers were ordered to disarm, and they complied. There were no arrests.
1969 photograph, Governor’s Negative Collection, Washington State Archives, image AR2-9-10-19690228
Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2020