The Shadow Over Seattle: A Call to Stop the Exploitation of Indigenous Women
A 150-year-old dispatch documents the systemic abuse of Native families and the trafficking of young women, challenging the city’s early moral indifference.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
We desire to direct the attention of the Indian Commissioner at Washington to the fact that considerable numbers of Indian families are wandering around the streets of our towns. Not a day passes but these neglected families, half-clothed in filthy tatters, can be seen sitting on doorsteps, or wandering around, sometimes drunk, and at all times objects repugnant to the sight. Another evil, to which we direct the attention of those whose duty it is to prevent it, is the fact that large numbers of the females of the tribes of British Columbia are brought here for purposes of prostitution, and these creatures may be seen any time of day walking the streets. We are also credibly informed that a deliberate purchase of a young girl of eleven years of age was made by an old reprobate last week—price, $40. Is there no law to prevent such practices in this country, or are the laws not enforced by those whose duty it is to enforce them?
“Is there no law to prevent such practices in this country, or are the laws not enforced by those whose duty it is to enforce them?”
While the article uses the dehumanizing language of its time, its blunt report on the trafficking of Indigenous women and the displacement of Native families in early Seattle highlights a dark, foundational struggle in the city's history. This historical record serves as a painful precursor to the ongoing crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) that still haunts the Pacific Northwest today.
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