Edwin T. Pratt (December 6, 1930 – January 26, 1969) was an American activist during the

Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...

. At the time of his assassination in 1969, he was Executive Director of the

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Urban League The National Urban League, formerly known as the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes, is a nonpartisan historic civil rights organization based in New York City that advocates on behalf of economic and social justice for African Am ...

."A Lasting Tribute", Pratt Fine Arts Center quarterly class schedule, Winter 2004, p.1.Heather Trescases,
Edwin Pratt is murdered inside of his Shoreline home on January 26, 1969
, HistoryLink.org Essay 4142, February 15, 2003, accessed online 23 February 2007.

Life

Born in

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

, Pratt received his bachelor's degree from

Clark College Clark College is a public community college in Vancouver, Washington. With 11,500 students, Clark College is the largest institution of higher education in southwest Washington. Founded in 1933 as a private two-year junior college, Clark Colleg ...

(

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

) and his master's in social work from

Atlanta University Clark Atlanta University (CAU or Clark Atlanta) is a private, Methodist, historically black research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Clark Atlanta is the first Historically Black College or University (HBCU) in the Southern United States. Fou ...

. He worked for the

in Cleveland, Ohio, and Kansas City, Missouri, before arriving in Seattle in 1956 to be the Seattle league's Community Relations Secretary. In 1961, he became the Executive Director of the Seattle Urban League. Among his achievements was the Triad Plan for the

desegregation Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of two groups, usually referring to races. Desegregation is typically measured by the index of dissimilarity, allowing researchers to determine whether desegregation efforts are having impact o ...

of the

Seattle Public Schools Seattle Public Schools is the largest public school district in the state of Washington. The school district serves almost all of Seattle. Additionally it includes sections of Boulevard Park and Tukwila. As of 2018, 113 schools are operated by ...

; he also led an initiative for equal housing opportunities. Pratt was killed outside his home in

Shoreline, Washington Shoreline is a city in King County, Washington, United States. It is located between the city limits of Seattle and the Snohomish County border, approximately north of Downtown Seattle. As of the 2020 census, the population of Shoreline was 58 ...

, a suburb immediately north of Seattle. Two men were involved in the shooting; it is presumed that a third drove the getaway car. It is still unknown who killed him. Pratt was survived by his wife, Bettye, his son Bill, and his daughter Miriam Katherine, who was five years old at the time of his death. He is commemorated today by Seattle's Pratt Park, the Pratt Fine Arts Center, and the Shoreline School District's Edwin Pratt Early Learning Center.Pratt Park
, Seattle Parks and Recreation. Accessed 23 February 2007.
Pratt Fine Arts Center serves as a lasting tribute to Edwin T. Pratt, a man who relentlessly championed open and equal access to educational and housing opportunities for all of Seattle's residents. Pratt Fine Arts Center honors his memory by continuing to pursue its mission of making art accessible to everyone, for people of all ages, skill levels, and backgrounds.

Notes

External links

*Heather Trescases,
Edwin Pratt is murdered outside of his Shoreline home on January 26, 1969
, gives an extensive account of Pratt's assassination and the subsequent investigations.

Life

See also

Notes

External links

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