A Living Reading List
Books, articles, and guides for anyone learning how to relate to this work
This list is not a syllabus. Think of it as an entry point. Each book, article, and film offers a piece of the larger story of this place: from the deep past before “Wallingford” existed, through the era of protest and organizing, and into the present moment where these stories continue to be lived.
Read what pulls you in first. Come back for the rest later. This list is a living document, growing alongside our research as we add context and depth to every title.
To structure this project, we followed the approach outlined in Changing the Narrative About Native Americans: A Guide for Allies from the Reclaiming Native Truth initiative. It’s a short guide, but it shaped how we approached this entire project. Start here.
Beginner Reads
A good starting point, whether you are new to this history or you have read it before. As you begin, ask yourself what your preconceived notions about this place are, and where those beliefs originated.
Changing the Narrative About Native Americans: A Guide for Allies
This brief guide discusses the difference between meaning well and being technically correct. It’s crucial groundwork; everything else on this list is framed within its context.
Read the Guide
Native Seattle: Histories from the Crossing-Over Place
This is the foundational text for local historians. It traces Indigenous presence in Seattle from its earliest times through to today, insisting that this presence did not simply end.
Reflect: Where did you first encounter Seattle’s founding story, and who told it to you?
More on Coll Thrush
There There
Though set in Oakland, this novel powerfully portrays contemporary urban Native life. Fiction offers something research cannot: it puts you inside the experience, rather than describing it from the outside.
Reflect: This book is set in Oakland, not Seattle. Why might that difference still matter to this local history?
More on Tommy OrangeReads That Go Deeper
These selections delve into specific issues, land, law, and memory. They ask more of the reader and require time. Proceed thoughtfully.
Seattle from the Margins: Exclusion, Erasure, and the Making of a Pacific Coast City
An essential look at how modern Seattle was built upon the exclusion and unrecognized labor of migrant and Indigenous communities. This helps us see how erasure becomes structurally built into a city, rather than being an afterthought.
More on Megan AsakaChief Seattle and the Town That Took His Name
A biography of Si’ahl, separate from the often-quoted legend. It is vital for anyone who has only heard the famous “speech,” much of which he never actually said.
Reflect: What is the difference between honoring a name and honoring a full history?
Publisher: Sasquatch BooksSeattle in Coalition: Multiracial Alliances, Labor Politics, and Transnational Activism in the Pacific Northwest, 1970–1999
This provides background on organizing history from the 1970s onward, including alliances between Native and non-Native movements. It offers key context for the Fort Lawton occupation.
Publisher: UNC PressPan-Tribal Activism in the Pacific Northwest: The Power of Indigenous Protest and the Birth of Daybreak Star Cultural Center
A detailed history of the 1970 Fort Lawton occupation and the founding of Daybreak Star Cultural Center. If this project seeks to include 1970s activism, this is essential reading.
Reflect: Fort Lawton occurred less than 60 years ago. Why do we sometimes discuss “Indigenous history” as if it began centuries ago?
Publisher: Lexington Books
Our History Is the Future: Standing Rock versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance
Though not focused on Seattle, this book provides a powerful model for conceptualizing Indigenous resistance as continuous, flowing from the treaty era to movements like Standing Rock. It makes clear that history and future are not opposites.
Publisher: Verso“‘Real’ Duwamish: Seattle’s First People and the Bitter Fight over Federal Recognition”
This article covers the ongoing, unresolved dispute over Duwamish federal recognition. The fact that Muckleshoot, Puyallup, and Tulalip leadership publicly oppose the Duwamish Tribal Organization’s pursuit of recognition is part of the reality we include. This project is not taking sides in that dispute; it is reporting its existence.
Read the ArticleCommunity and Storytelling Reads
Memoirs, oral histories, and fiction carry truths that academic writing often cannot reach. As you read these pieces, observe whose voice is telling the story and how much changes when a history comes from inside a community versus from outside it.
Fighting for the Puyallup Tribe: A Memoir
A powerful first-person account from a former Puyallup Tribal Council chairwoman who led fish-in protests and fought treaty rights here in Puget Sound during the 1960s and 70s.
More on the Puyallup Tribe
Bernie Whitebear: An Urban Indian’s Quest for Justice
The biography of the activist who led the Fort Lawton occupation and founded United Indians of All Tribes. Written by his brother, it offers an intimate perspective rather than a distant academic one.
Reflect: What does it mean to occupy federal land simply to build something vital for your own community?
Publisher: University of Arizona PressHaboo: Native American Stories from Puget Sound
Traditional Lushootseed stories collected by an Upper Skagit elder and linguist. These are regional stories, not general collections.
Publisher: UW PressProject 562: Changing the Way We See Native America
A photographic journey across over 562 federally recognized tribes. It serves as a vital counterbalance to the single, flattened image that is often projected onto “Native America.”
More on Project 562Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology
A compilation of horror and dark fiction from dozens of Native writers, on their own terms, unsoftened for an outside reader.
Publisher: Penguin Random HouseWandering Stars
A follow-up to There There, tracing one family across the journey of Sand Creek and Carlisle Indian School. It is best read after having absorbed the first novel.
Roofwalker
Linked short stories following one Dakota family across generations, moving between Standing Rock and Chicago.
Publisher: Milkweed EditionsFind These Books Here
If you are local, these two neighborhood spots are excellent starting points. If your branch carries something on this list, visit before ordering online.
Wallingford Branch, Seattle Public Library
1501 N 45th Street, Seattle, WA 98103
| Monday | 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. |
| Tuesday | 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. |
| Wednesday | 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. |
| Thursday | 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. |
| Friday | Closed |
| Saturday | 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. |
| Sunday | 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. |
Pacific Northwest Shop
4411 Wallingford Avenue North, Seattle, WA 98103
They carry a selection of Native American books alongside other Pacific Northwest titles. Family-owned since 1978.
Browse Native American BooksThis List Will Keep Growing
This list will continue to evolve. If you have read something that belongs here, or if you think we’ve missed something vital, please tell us. This is a collaborative document.