Episode Details

In this episode, we explore the radical forging of washington state. If I told you there was an American territory whose founding economy was actively propped up by brothels. Right. And where a sick judge once literally paddled a canoe to a shootout with a rogue governor. Yeah, that actually happened. And where progressive labor unions organized violent ethnic cleansing. You probably wouldn't immediately think of the rainy coffee obsessed Pacific Northwest. You definitely wouldn't. But today our mission is to explore a really comprehensive historical overview of Washington state. We're drawing this directly from Wikipedia's incredibly detailed historical archives. We are going to shortcut your path to being totally well informed about how this remote. isolated corner of the map evolved. We'll track how it went from ancient, wealthy, indigenous societies into a modern hotbed of political rebellion, giant monopolies, and fierce civil rights battles. It really is a staggering transformation. And what makes this source document so compelling isn't Not at all. Early fur traders have been partnering with native women for decades, creating a large established Métis or mixed race population. And then. In 1846, the settlement of Tumwater was founded by George Washington Bush, a Black pioneer. Who moved his family all the way from Missouri to the Pacific Northwest. Wait, let me get this timeline straight. He moved in 1846. Yes. That is well before the Civil War. How is a Black pioneer navigating the frontier? when neighboring territories were legally hostile to his very existence. That is the crucial detail here. He traveled there specifically to escape the racist settlement laws of the neighboring Oregon Territory. Oh, wow. Yeah, Oregon literally passed laws banning black people from residing there under threat of public whipping. So Bush pushes further north into Washington, where the lack of formal government meant a lack of formal racial exclusion. Meanwhile...