Tracing Seattle: Immigration, Exclusion, and Geography

This essay examines how Seattle’s geography acts as a record of power, mythmaking, and exclusion. Street and neighborhood names like Denny, Yesler, Pioneer Square, and Capitol Hill honor settlers, developers, and aesthetics while obscuring the displacement of Coast Salish peoples and the exploitation of immigrant labor. At the same time, the city’s racial geography, shaped by redlining, restrictive covenants, and segregation, reveals deeper stories of exclusion and resilience. Drawing on archives, oral histories, and public history projects, I argue that Seattle’s map tells two stories: one of celebrated pioneers and progress, and another of silenced communities whose histories are only now being made visible.

This essay explores how Seattle’s museums reflect the broader evolution of public history in the United States—from exclusive, triumphalist institutions to more inclusive, community-centered spaces. It critiques the ways museums once sanitized or ignored labor struggles, Indigenous voices, and racial inequities, while highlighting recent efforts toward shared authority and relevance. Seattle’s Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI) and the Burke Museum serve as case studies of this shift. The essay argues that museums must embrace discomfort, transparency, and contested histories to remain meaningful, especially in a climate where cultural institutions are once again under political attack.