The A1 Revisited project aimed to help the Seattle Times directly address the harm some of its past coverage has caused. We dug into the archives to “revisit” the front-page stories (or stories that should have been front-page) in which the Seattle Times covered significant historical events.

A1 Revisited interrogates past coverage, noting where it went wrong, considering how we would cover these events differently today, and collaborating with community members and organizations, and asking critical questions. The goal is to learn from the past and create fairer, more accurate, more equitable and more inclusive coverage.

photo by Erika J. Schultz

The Seattle Times, 2019

Winner of the SPJ Northwest award

“LUMMI NATION — As the setting sun casts warm shadows over dozens of tents scattered across the grounds of the Lummi Nation School, a casual circle of drummers sings soulfully to the slow steady rhythm.

A woman hums along as she smooths an elder’s hair. Nearby kids play in the grass, and elders lounge and shift, trying to find a shady spot to keep out of the rapidly retiring sun.

They’ve all earned this leisurely hour after journeying in canoes for weeks, from various tribes along the Salish Sea and beyond, all the way to Lummi, the site of this year’s annual tribal canoe journey, the Paddle to Lummi...”

The Seattle Times, 2019

Runner-up SPJ Northwest award

TACOMA — When Clyde Robinson was drafted into the U.S. Army’s 9th Cavalry Regiment in 1942, he had never heard of the buffalo soldiers. He did not know that he would become part of the storied, complicated legacy of the all-black regiments of the U.S. military.

Robinson served in the Philippines in World War II. Now 98 and living in Skyway, he proudly proclaims that he is the “last remaining buffalo soldier in Seattle and Tacoma.”

photo by Bettina Hansen

The Seattle Times, 2020

“‘I never failed at being a boy,’ recites the poet, the words lingering hauntingly. A dancer gracefully spins and leaps as other dancers sit cross-legged, watching with awe. A musician gently beats a drum as dancers freestyle and come together in a joyful cypher, laughing and shouting encouragement to each other. Then, the levity shifts as the dancers begin stepping and calling out hateful comments and slurs they’ve all undoubtedly heard before. 

And each step of the way, the audience is with them — at times hollering, laughing, calling out and dancing in their chairs; at others, crying or quietly holding space for the struggles the artists depict on stage...”

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