Murder, Politics, and the Challenges of Public History in a Community with a Secret Robert R

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Spring 1994 History, He Wrote: Murder, Politics, and the Challenges of Public History in a Community with a Secret Robert R. Weyeneth University of South Carolina - Columbia, [email protected]

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Publication Info Published in The Public Historian, ed. Randolph Bergstrom, Volume 16, Issue 2, Spring 1994, pages 51-73. Weyeneth, R. R. (1994). History, he wrote: Murder, politics, and the challenges of public history in a community with a secret. The Public Historian, 16(2), 51-73. "Published as History, He Wrote: Murder, Politics, and the Challenges of Public History in a Community with a Secret, Robert R. Weyeneth, The Public Historian, Vol. 16, No. 2 (Spring 1994). © 1994 by the Regents of the University of California/Sponsoring Society or Association. Copying and permissions notice: Authorization to copy this content beyond fair use (as specified in Sections 107 and 108 of the U. S. Copyright Law) for internal or personal use, or the internal or personal use of specific clients, is granted by the Regents of the University of California/on behalf of the Sponsoring Society for libraries and other users, provided that they are registered with and pay the specified fee via Rightslink® on JSTOR (http://www.jstor.org/r/ucal) or directly with the Copyright Clearance Center, http://www.copyright.com."

This Article is brought to you by the History, Department of at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Histo He Wrote Murder, Politics, and the Challenges of Public Histozy in a Community with a Secret

ROBERTR. WEYENETH

LIKETHE FICTIONAL TOWNthat harbored a terriblesecret in the filmBad Day at Black Rock, thecit of Centralia,Washington would rather forget an eventthat occurred there more than 70 years ago. In the movie, which is set inthe West during the postwar year of 1945,the townspeople of BlackRock struggleto preventan outsider from learning that a murderin their communityhas gone unpunished. In the courseof the film,the outsiderdiscovers thata Japanese-Americanfarmer has been killedfour years earlier by a leadingcitizen in a misdirectedfit of patrioticanger following the attack on PearlHarbor. Eerily, this plot echoes events that actually occurred in a small Washingtonlumber town during another postwar year, 1919. In Centralia shortlyafter World War I, ferventpatriotism and intolerance bothfueled bywar-time passions inspireda violentlabor confrontation that killed at leastsix people. Unlike the unseenkilling at BlackRock, however, the so- called CentraliaMassacre made nationalheadlines and precipitateda crackdownon radicalsacross the country.Only in the interveningdecades didthe painfulevents of the pastbecome a secretwithin the community, andan entire chapter of municipalhistory disappear. Manydetails of this historicalmurder mystely remain unknown and possiblyunknowable, but the concernhere is notwith what happened so

ROBERT R. WEYENETH is co-directorof the graduateprogram in public history at the Universityof SouthCarolina, where he teachescourses in historicpreservation and Ameri- can socialand environmentalhistory. He receivedhis Ph.D. fromthe Universityof Califor- nia, Berkeleyand has written and consultedon the historyof urbanand nationalparks, communityhistory, and environmentalism.He is currentlyresearching how the civil rights movementis being remembered,and neglected,in Americancommunities.

The Public Historian, Vol. 16, No. 2 (Spring1994) (C)1994 by the Regentsof the Universityof Californiaand the NationalCouncil on PublicHistory 52 * THE PUBLICHISTORIAN muchas what is rememberedin Centralia.How have the bloody and highly politicizedevents of 1919shaped public memory? What are the opportuni- tiesand difficulties of undertakinga public history project in a community witha secret?' Myinvolvement inthis story has been as an outsider and is onlycompara- tivelyrecent. During the springand summer of 1990,I wasin western Washingtonworking on a differentproject. One summer evening after the libraryhad closed, I droveover to Centraliato lookfor sites associated with the so-calledmassacre, which I rememberedas a dramaticepisode in Americanlabor history from my general course of graduatestudy at Berke- ley.I couldfind nothing. No visitor guide or museum exhibit mentioned the event;no plaquesidentified significant sites connected with the violence. Talkingwith local people over the nextfew months,I realizedthat the absenceof commemorationwas intentional, and I foundmyself disturbed by thiseffort to ignore,if notobliterate, the past.At firstI complainedto colleagues,citing Centralia as yet anotherexample of theappalling distor- tionsof localhistory. I alsogrumbled about academic historians and their abdicationof responsibilityfor interpretingthe past to general audiences. In time,though, fascination supplemented irritation. I grew intrigued by what I cameto callthe process of historical reconciliation inCentralia. I began to wonderhow and why a communitywould choose to forgetits past.I also beganruminating on whether an outsider should try to playa catalyticrole. Coulda publichistorian facilitate reconciliation with a problematicalpast? Wasthis part of ourjob description?2 Eventually,I decided to becomea probono consultant in theemploy of Clio,and I becamea partof the stoxymyself. Through discussions with sympatheticCentralia residents and the staff at the statehistoric preserva- tionoffice, I decidedto usethe process of nominatingsites to theNational Registerof HistoricPlaces as a wayto recognizethe controversial past and placeit squarelyin anarena of publicdiscussion. By the endof 1991,two sites had been listedon the NationalRegister. The projectstimulated intenselocal debate and considerable national press attention, as it revealed genuinechallenges in undertakingheritage preservation in a placelike Centralia.

1. T.H. Breen offers thoughtfulobservations about public memoly and community histoxyin Imagining the Past (Reading,Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1989). Breen's explorations in the histoIyof EastHampton, New Yorkillustrate how communities often inventtheir pasts throughthe stonesthey tell themselvesabout local history. Like East Hampton, many places discovera fictionalgolden age without the tensionsof the present.But in Centraliasilence is golden:imagining the pastrequires selective disremembering as muchas nostalgicinvention. 2. For a generalstudy of publicmemory and the processof historicalreconciliation in a nationalcontext, see MichaelKammen, Mystic Chords of Memory: The Transformationof Traditionin American Culture (NewYork: Alfred A. Knopf,1991). See alsothe issuedevoted to "Memoryand American HistoIy" of Journal of American History 75 (March1989). HISTORY,HEWROTE * 53 AChronology ofthe Violence and Trial

To appreciatewhy collective memory is so selectivein Centralia,it is necessaryto understandsomething of thetown's controversial history. The so-calledCentralia Massacre was a violentexpression of thefirst Red Scare, the nationalcrackdown on radicalsthat began during World War I and continuedinto the postwaryears. On ArmisticeDay 1919,Centralia wit- nessedan armedskirmish between members of the IndustrialWorkers of theWorld, a radicallabor union with a militantreputation, and members of the AmericanLegion, a veteransorganization recently formed to promote patriotismand anti-radicalism. To markthe firstanniversary of the endof the worldwar, Centralia's American Legion post scheduled an Armistice Dayparade with an unusualagenda: destruction of the localI.W.W. hall. Theplan was an open secret in townfor several weeks, but unbeknownst to Legionorganizers, the I.W.W. decided not to be intimidatedand to defend the hallwhen attacked.3 Onthe afternoon of November11, 1919, the parade made its way up the TowerAvenue business corridor and then beyond, to the intersectionof Towerand Third, an areaof modestboarding houses and workingman's hotelswhere the I.W.W.operated its unionhall. As the marchersreversed directionto returndowntown, parading veterans rushed the Roderick Hotel,in which the I.W.W. hall was located. Armed Wobblies asmembers oftheI.W.W. were known- opened fire from inside the hall, as well as from an adjacentboarding house and the summitof a nearbyhill. Whenthe gunfirefailed to driveoff the legionnaires,Wobblies scattered. Three legionnaireswere killed on the street near the RoderickHotel, and a fourth wasshot by a fleeingWobbly on the outskirts of town.Almost a dozenothers werewounded. Subsequently, the contentsof theunion hall were dragged intothe streetand set ablaze.4 Initially,the violence was reported as an unprovoked act of terrorismon thepart ofthe radical labor union. Forweeks afterthe event, public outrage inspiredreprisals against Wobblies in the Northwestand elsewhere. Na- tionally,hundreds of I.W.W.members were roundedup, and scoresof Wobblyhalls were raided or destroyedby vigilantes.(Only later did the CentraliaWobblies have a chanceto tell theirside of the story:that the 3. A detailed and authoritativeaccount of the chronologyof events and the much- disputedculpability of the variousparticipants is John McClelland,Jr., Wobbly War: The Centralia Story (Tacoma:Washington State Historical Society, 1987), on whichthis narrative is based.The workis also a good guideto the vastprimary literature inspired by the events. 4. Much remainsunresolved about the sequence of events, and the details of the chronologyare passionately debated even today.One crucialpoint of contentionis who made the firstaggressive move as the paradepaused outside the I.W.W.hall. Did the legionnaires rushthe hall,precipitating the Wobblyresponse, as is suggestedhere, or did Wobblysnipers fire first,causing the marchersto breaktoward the hall?The unknown(and unknowable) detailsof the eventscontribute to the persistenceof partisanfeelings. For a judiciousappraisal of these andother contested questions, see McClelland,Wobbly War. 54 * THE PUBLICHISTORIAN incidentwas a defensiveresponse to the threatof mobviolence.) The bloodiestreprisal occurred in Centralia.On the eveningof the parade,a groupof men enteredthe city jail in the darknessof a pre-arranged municipalblack-out, and a Wobblyprisoner named Wesley Everest was removedfrom his cell. The mob mistakenly believed it wasabducting the localI.W.W. secretary, the presumedarchitect of the day'sviolence. The prisonerwas taken to a bridgeoutside of townand hanged.5 Anintegral part of the storywas the responseof thejustice system. No memberof the mobthat broke into the Centralia jail was ever charged for the Iynchingof WesleyEverest. The reason was simple. It wascommonly assumedthat prominent citizens had participated in the Iynching.In contrast,Wobbly actions came under close scrutiny from the criminaljustice system.In January1920, the officialprosecution began. Eleven Wobblies weretried for the murderof oneof thelegionnaires in circumstancesthat madeit difficultfor the defense to presentits case to animpartial jury. For example?uniformed legionnaires were paid to packthe courtroomas spectators,while soldiers camped near the courthouse inview of the jury. In a two-monthtrial, eight Wobblies were convicted of second-degreemurder and sentencedto stiff prisonterms of between25 and 40 years.The convictionbecame a causecelebre for the AmericanLeft, chiefly through publicistsworking for the release of theimprisoned men. Remarkably, two yearsafter the trial? seven of thetwelve jurors voluntarily repudiated their verdict.Appeals and subsequent investigations swayed public opinion but not stateauthorities. Eventually, one Wobblydied in prison?six were releasedin theearly 1930S? and the lastwas freed in 1939. Thefailure of thejustice system to protectthe innocent(or punish the guilty)is nowgenerally acknowledged. While leading citizens involved in theIynching went free, Wobblies defending their property were tried and sentencedto themaximum penalties. The Centralia Wobbly trial of 1920is oftenlikened to othercelebrated American court cases in whichradicals wereunfairly convicted and imprlsoned, like Tom Mooney in California (1917),or executed, like Sacco and Vanzetti (1921) in Massachusetts.6 5. Unansweredquestions here include who turned off the powerinto the municipaljail, who the membersof the mobwere, and whether the victimof the lynching,Wesley Everest, was castratedbefore he was hanged.For a recent,skeptical view thatargues the castration storyis legendrather than fact, see TomCopeland, '4Wesley Everest, IWW Martyr," Paciftc Northwest Quarter{y 77 (October1986), 122-29; also see McClelland,WobbZy War, 8s85 The deathtoll associatedwith the violenceis usuallycounted as sixby includingthe victimof the antiradicalmanhunt, a fellowposse member mistakenly killed in the woodsin subsequent days.Some modern defenders of the Wobblyrole find other mystenes and suggest the death toll mayhave been higher. These partisans speak about "the disappeared': Wobblies and their sympathizerswho left Centraliaor were never seen again. In these speculations,much attentioncenters on the millfurnace, and conspiracy and collaboration theones proliferate. 6. Becausethis is backgroundto a stolyabout public memory, this summaly omits many detailsand much of the context.For an analysisof the significanceof the violenceand trial, as well as an assessmentof the local contextthat precipitated the confrontationbetween the AmericanLegion and the I.W.W.,see RobertR. Weyeneth,Centralia ArtnisticeDay 1919: A Multiple-PropertyNomination to the National Register of Historic Places. See also:Melvyn HISTORY,HE WROTE * S5

TheLegacy of ArmisticeDay 1919

Thestoly did rlot end with the convictionof the CentraliaWobblies in 1920.The knowledge that public authorities chose to lookthe other way as citizenssponsored and participated in mobviolence placed a cloudover the communitythat has not yet entirely lifted. In the 1920s,as misgivings began to growabout the justicemeted out to the Wobblies,American Legion partisansadopted an increasingly defensive posture. Seeking to justify their actions,the AmericanLegion produced a seriesof impassionedhistories and,in 1924,erected a memorialstatue in Centraliathat interpreted the violenceas a lessonin patrioticvigilance. Comparable memorials were not withinthe financialmeans of I.W.W.partisans, but throughout the 1920s and1930s the Leftchurned out a steadystream of pamphletsand speeches demandingrelease of the prisoners.Mysteriously and anonymously,a modestgranite marker did come to be placedon the pauper'sgrave of the Iynchingvictim WesleyEverest sometimein the late thirties.In these waystthe ideologicalconfrontation continued after 1919 in a battlefor Americanpublic opinion and the judgment of history. In subsequentdecades, the painfulevents of the past were seldom discussedin Centralia.Partisan feeling may have run high, but a collective silenceseems to havesettled on the town.I havebeen told that neighbors did not talkabout 1919, and that well into the 1950sthe publiclibrary collectednothing. The subject virtually disappeared from local accounts of municipalhistoxy. The count-wide historical museum, a populardestina- tionfor school trips and tourist buses, offered no eilibits on the subjectby orderof its boardof directors.Generations of Centraliastudents grew up unawarethat events of nationalimportance occurred in their city. For some timeCentralia adolescents might first hear about the events only when they went off to collegein anothertown.7 The eventsof 1919had not been forgotten;they werejust not acknowledged,in the hope they couldbe forgotten.Ironically, the countly'sfirst Armistice Day an occasionof nationalremembrance had becomefor Centraliaa problematicallocal memoiyand a dayto forget.

Dubofsky,We Shall Be All: A Histonyof the IndustrialWorkers of the World (Chicago: QuadrangleBooks, 1969); Robert L. Tyler,Rebels ofthe Woods:The l.W.W. in the Pacific Northwest(Eugene: University of OregonBooks, 1967); Albert F. Gunns,<'Ray Becker, the Last CentraliaPnsoner,' PaciftcNorthwest Quarterty 59 (April1968), 8999; Donald A. MacPhee,s4The Centralia Incident and the Pamphleteers,"Pacific Northwest Quarterly 62 (July1971), 110-16. AttorneyTom Copelandis the authorof the most recent study,The CentraliaTragedyofl919: ElmerSmithandtheWobblies (Seattle: UniversityofWashington Press, 1993).As with the Centraliaevents, the historicaldebate over the guilt of Saccoand Vanzetticontinues, although the Governorof Massachusettsissued a publicapology in 1977, the fiftiethanniversaly of theirexecution. 7. McClelland,VtZobbly War, 232-38. I have based this and some subsequentobserfira- tions on evidence drawnfrom personalinterviews and correspondence.Informants will remainunattributed to protecttheir privacy. 56 * THE PUBLICHISTORIAN

Oneindication that the climate of opinionis becomingmore open than everbefore to frankdiscussion of local history is a bookletpublished in 1987 bythe Centralia School District. This intriguing synopsis was prepared for the city'seighth-graders by two Vietnamveterans who becamehistory teachersin Centralia.The authorssaw a parallelbetween the on-going struggleof Americansto comprehendthe Vietnamlegacy and their own community'sdifficulty in confrontingits past. They wrote their history not "toopen old wounds but to makenew generations aware of what happened througha balancedaccount."8 Buteven recent efforts at heritage promotion in Centralia have tended to ignorethe Armistice Day events. In a colorful but innocuous attempt several yearsago to advertiseitself as "thecity of historicalmurals," Centralia decorateddowntown buildings with paintings of quiltingbees, pioneer loggers,a traindepot, the firstchurch, and other conventional subjects for awestern farming and lumbering town. Absent was any reference to the one eventin localhistory with national significance. Heritage preservation has remaineda sensitivesubject, best approached through selective remembrance.9

A Strategyfor Historical Reconciliation:The National Register Process

In myself-appointed role as histoncal gadfly, I hopedthat nomination of Centraliasites to theNational Register of HistoncPlaces would help close the unfinishedstoxy of histoncalreconciliation in the community. I antici- patedthat some of the ghostsof 1919might be exorcisedby the public hearingsrequired by ffie nomination process and the publicity they tend to generate.I reasonedthat federal recognition of thehistonc significance of the ArmisticeDay violence would stimulate local efforts to identifyand preseIveits matenallegacy.l° The choiceof whatsites to nominatein Centraliarequired unusual considerations,given the delicatesubject of historicpreservation in the town.Questions of balance, fairness, and symmetiy arose. I foundno site or

8. Ron Breckenridgeand Joe Flink,Centralia Tragedy Remembered: A TextbookCon- cerninga LocalHtstory Eventfor Centralia Eighth Graders (Centralia School District #410, 1987). 9. RobinWinks has pointedout that places revealthemselves through their decisions aboutwhat aspects of localhistory to commemorate.Among other examples, he pointsto the courthousesquare in Scottsboro,Alabama which is identifiedby historicalmarkers as the site of the oldestopera house in northeastAlabama, for instance, but not for its rolein the notorious caseof racialinjustice from the 1930s,with which most Americans would associate Scottsboro. See RobinW. Winks, "Regionalism in ComparativePerspective," in WilliamG. Robbins,et al. (eds.), Regionalismand the PacificNorthwest (Corvallis: Oregon State UniversityPress, 1983),24. 10. Moregenerally, I hopedthe undertakingwould have an impactoutside Centralia by encouragingheritage conservation at laborhistory sites elsewhere in the PacificNorthwest. I remainintrigued by the ideaof a multiple-propertynomination to the NationalRegister with a regionalscope, organized around the theme of I.W.W.activities in thewestern United States. -

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Located prominentlyin Centralia'stown of the square,The Sentinel( 1924) ArmisticeDay events and a offeredthe offlcialversion ofthe warningabout the specterof labor author.) radicalism.(Photo courtesy 58 * THE PUBLICHISTORIAN structure"equally" connected with all sidesof the episodeand quickly abandonedthe ideaof a singlenomination. The choice became in parta politicalcalculation. I wanted a site fromeach side of the controversyin orderto offeran "even-handed"nomination. I did not wantone set of partisansto be ableto dismissmy effortwith the argumentthat I was favoringthe other.ll Here, though, Iencountered the dilemma that few sites associateddirectly with the Wobbly role survive, whereas there are still a fair numberof buildingsclosely linked with the planningof the raidand the routeofthe Armistice Dayparade. Eventually, I settled on the two pieces of memorialarchitecture erectdd in the 1920sand 30s, one by the American Legionand the other by the I.W.W.Each was intensely political and each offeredits ownversion of the bloodshedof ArmisticeDay. It seemed especiallyfitting to selecttwo monumentsto remembrancein orderto inauguratea debate about public memo.l2 The Sentinelrepresents an effortto presentin bronzeand stone an officialversion of theArmistice Day events. It is anelaborate memorial to the fourslain legionnaires and is ornamentedwith text whose message celebratesthe patriotism of thedead and cautions future generations to be vigilantagainst the specter of radicalism.One panel of thepedestal charac- terizesthe men and tlleir actions on the day of the tragedy. According to the inscxiption,the fourlegionnaires were patriots and veterans ("wearing the uniformof the countIythey loyally and faithfully served"), who had been slaughteredas innocents (while "on peaceful parade" through the streets of thecit). Thefront panel offers posterity an explanation for what happened anda warning about the future. As to theactual events of Armistice Day, the inscriptionis a studyin ambiguityand perhaps ambivalence: "it was their destiny ratherit wastheir duty." The phrasing suggests that the dead men werevictims of intractablehistorical forces beyond their control, but also, paradoxically,active agents in theirown right, simply doing the good deed. Asthough already aware that histoxy might judge them harshly, the convo- lutedsentiment seeks to excusetheir actions as understandablein the generaltumult of events,while it tenaciouslypresents a spiriteddefense. Theinscription on the front panel concludes with an observation directed at posterity:"The highest of us is but a sentryat his post."If therewas any

11. The conceptof a multiple-propertynomination in a thematicformat (in this case a single controversialevent) may representa useful model for recognitionof other sites associatedwith painful recent memories or partisanconstituencies. 12. The singleextant site associatedwith the Wobblyrole in the eventsis the gravesiteof the lynchingvictim, Weslev Everest. Other sites directlylinked with the Wobblyrole have disappeared.The RoderickHotel (the locationof the I.W.W.hall) was replaced in the 1930s and that buildingsurvives today in dilapidatedcondition. The city jail (wherethe I.W.W. suspectswere imprisoned) was torn down for the new cityhall in 1921.The originalMellen StreetBridge (the notorious"Hangman's Bridge" from which Wesley Everest was Iynched) was replacedin 1960with another. In contrast,there are a numberof extantsites associated with the effortto suppressWobbly activity: the ElksClub Roomsin the old UnionLoan & TrustCompany Building (where the raidon the I.W.W.hall was planned), the TowerAvenue HISTORY,HE WROTE * 59

Placedanonymously in the late 1930s,the modestheadstone at the WesleyEverest gravesite in Centraliatersely memorializes the labormartyr's I.W.W. membership and the circumstancesof his death.(Photo courtesy of the author.) ambiguityor ambivalencein the firstclause, it is absenthere. The message is anxiousand tough:be the sentinel,be watchful,be vigilant.It is a fascinatingpiece of politicalsculpture. It was dedicatedwith pomp and circumstancein 1924,on the fifthanniversary of the violence,with the governorof the state and the AmericanLegion's annual convention in attendance.It sitsprominently today in Centralia'stown square.l3 In sharpcontrast to the elaboratemonument in the centerof town,the gravesiteof WesleyEverest is a studyin obscurity,simplicity, and mystery. It is locatedin a pauperscemetery on the outskirtsof Centralia,adjacent todayto a privatememorial park. The gravesite is markedonly by a modest graniteheadstone, ornamented with the I.W.W.insignia and an inscription that is not withoutits own politicalstatement: "In Memoryof Wesley EverestKilled Nov. 11, 1919Age 32." The headstonewas placed anony- commercialdistrict (the businesscorridor of Centraliaand the route of the ArmisticeDay parade),and the GraysHarbor County Courthouse in the nearbytown of Montesano(where the Wobblytrial was held in 1920).The staffof the WashingtonState Office of Archaeology and HistoricPreservation, especially Leonard Garfield and Kay Austin, offered good counsel and solidsupport of the twinnominations throughout the NationalRegister process. 13. The fulltext of the frontpanel reads: "THE SENTINEL It wastheir destiny rather it was theirduty-the highestof us is but a sentryat his post."The text on the rearpanel is dedicated:"To the memoryof Ben Casagranda,Warren O. Grimm,Earnest Dale Hubbard, ArthurMcElfresh, slain on the streetsof Centralia,Washington Armistice Day Nov. 11, 1919 whileon peacefulparade wearing the uniformof the countrythey loyally and faithfully served." 60 * THE PUBLICHlSTORIAN mouslysometime in the late 1930s.Everest was the "JoeHill" of the ArmisticeDay events. Like the Swedish-bornWobbly who became a labor martyrafter his execution by a Utahfiring squad in 1915,Wesley Everest emergedas the symbol of labor's problems in the Paciflc Northwest. Within a yearof Everest'sdeath, in 1920,Ralph Chaplin published an account of theviolence and trial from the Wobbly perspective entitled The Centralia Conspiracy.The front cover was illustrated with a sketchof Everestdan- glingfrom a noose,and the pamphletconcluded with a poemcomparing Everest'shanging with the crucifLwionand martyrdom of Christ.Twelve yearslater, in 1932,John Dos Passosimbued the storyof WesleyEverest with mythicalimport, romanticizing Everest as the heroiclogger Paul Bunyanand using the Centralia events to close his epic on postwar America, 1919. Likethe sentimentscarved in the pedestalof The Sentinel,the inscriptionon Wesley Everest's headstone makes a politicalstatement. The marker'sunconventional wording gives a dateof deathbut no birthdate, suggestingignorance of a relevantbiographical detail but also keen aware- nessofthe man's politicized death. No reference is madeto familymembers whomay have placed the stone, as is oftenthe custom. Instead, the I.W.W. emblemdecorates the headstone,declaring that thosewho placedthe markerknew that Everest, like many Wobblies, had found family in the idea of "OneBig Union." Most striking of all forany headstone, mucll less one astersely composed as this- we aretold how Wesley Everest met his death ("KilledNov. 11, 1919'7),a simple but enormously meaningful epitaph for thosewho regardedEverest as the martyrof Centra]ia.The markeris neitherimposing nor elaborate, but in itsown modest way it is everybit as ideologicalin contentas the cenotaph in thecity square. The NationalRegister process proved to be an extremelyeffective strategyfor stimulating public discussion about these two sites and about the historicalevent generally. The local newspaper, the CentraliaChronicle, coveredthe stoiyextensively and well, largely due to an energeticyoung reporterwho became fascinated by the histoxy.To judgefrom the press coveragethat surroundedthe municipal and state reviewofthe nominations in August1991, there is a considerablepublic appetite for history. VeIy quicklythis became a nationa]stoxy. The Associated Press picked up the nominationsasits LaborDay feature in September1991. The wire-service textran across the country with headlines that were essentially avariation on "Townwith a secretends silence on Centralia massacre,>' asone paper titled it. TheCentralia Chronicle ran the Associated Press story with a sentence disassociatingitself from the report,under the headline('Light shining on Centralia's'secret'." Briefly, radio and televisioncrews descended on Centraliato interviewresidents for their own spots, and National Public Radiousedie stoxyasits Veteran's DayWeekend report in November 1991.l4 14. Hal Spencer,"Centralia Finally Confronting Wobbly Lynching of 1919,"The Associ- atedPress7 September 1, 1991;"'Town with a secret'ends silence on Centraliamassacre, San HISTORY,HEWROTE * 61

The qualityof journalisticcoverage was generallyquite good andin- cludedsophisticated discussions of histoxy,historical evidence, even the interpretivenature of studyingthepast. Much ofthis press interest focused, of course,on the intriguingdetails of the violence.The storyhad all the aspectsof a greatunsolved murder mystery, appropriate perhaps to the televisionseries Murdern She Wrote l5 Mostreports tried to describethe crimescene and the evidenceand to interviewwitnesses with conflicting testimony.But therewas also a reasonableeffort to promotehistorical understandingby suggestinghistorical context, characterizingworking con- ditionsin northwesternlumber camps, detailing the grievances and politics of theWobblies. I wish university history courses enjoyed more of thatkind of engagementwith evidence and interpretation. In a lessonthat could appearin a freshmenhistory text, the Centralia paper set two accounts of the eventsside by side, asking readers to sortthrough the conflicting eyewitness evidenceand historical interpretations. Perhaps as remarkable as anything, fora Veteran's Day story the Centralia Chronicle located and interviewed an 84-year-oldresident who recalled that his parents knew the I.W.W. hall was to be attackedand ordered him and his brother to avoidthe parade and the downtownthat day. I wasstruckthat this powerfultestimonywas notdiluted byprinting it alongsidean eyewitness account with a differentrecollection, evenon the occasionof the seventy-secondanniversary of the events.l6 Governmentreview-of the nominationsprovided both the journalistic storyat the locallevel andan importantset of publicforums. Because I viewedthe preparation of the nominationsas part of a strategyof outreach andeducation, I circulateddraft copies for commentto individualsand constituenciesI thought would be receptiveto theproject: members of the laborcommunity, public officials, and citizens with an interest in heritage promotion.I left it to thepress and city government to informpeople of the twomunicipal hearings but made an effort to encourageattendance at the statelevel of review.The CentraliaHistorical Commission approved the nominationdocument unanimously, with onlythree people in the audience: me andtwo staff members from the statehistoxic preservation office. In a better-publicized,well-attended meeting of theCentralia City Council, the

FranciscoExaminer, September2, 1991;"Light shining on Centralia's'secret'," Centralia Chronicle, August 31, 1991;National Public Radio, Weekend Edition, November10, 1991. See also:"Light finally shines on town'sdark secret," [Olympia, Washington] The Olympian, September2, 1991;"Centralians break silence on 'Wobbly'hanging," [Tucson] Arizona Daily Star, September2, 1991;"Centralia confronts its violentlabor history," Bellingham [Washing- ton] Herald, September6, 1991. 15. A recentwork that approaches an episodeof vigilanteviolence from the perspectiveof a murdermystery is HarryFarrell, SwiftJustice: Murder and Vengeance in a California Town (NewYork: St. Martin'sPress, 1992). The two lynchingsof 1933and the climateof opinionin San Jose, Californiabear some remarkablesimilarities to the Centraliaevents; Farrell concludeswith a usefulchapter of conjectureabout the outstandingmysteries in the case. 16. CentraliaChronicle, August 8, 1991, September 14, 1981, November 11, 1991, December30, 1991. 62 * THE PUBLICHISTORIAN vote for approvalwas split, 4-2. The StateAdvisory Council on Historic Preservationapproved the nomination package unanimously, although not withouta lengthyand at times passionate airing of views. In December 1991 thefederal government listed both sites in the National Register as possess-

. .o. lng natlona . slgnltlcance. Veryfew Centralia residents chose to voiceopposition to the nomina- tionsat public meetings, and there was considerable support from citizens whowelcomed the project,sometimes by recountingpersonal efforts to learnabout the controversialevent as theywere growing up. (Themost spiritedopposition came on twooccasions from quite different perspec- tives:a citycouncil member denounced the anti-Centralia interpretation of thenomination document and, subsequently, a Tacoma Wobbly blasted the samehistorical interpretation asanti-I.W.W.) The general absence of vocal oppositionin Centraliamay be rootedin the changing demographics of the community.There are few old-timers left who remember the eventfrom theirchildhoods, and even though many ofthe old families still live in town, the communityhas also become home to a rangeof newcomers:people fleeingmetropolitan housing costs in Seattle,Portland, and even California. Theseimmigrants bring a genuinecuriosity about community history, unencumberedby directinvolvement in the events.As one newcomer admitted,"when I came here, I didn'trealize this sleepy area had such a 'hot item'in its past." It is alsopossible that many long-time residents prefer not to expresstheir opinions publicly, in lettersto the editoror through state- mentsat governmenthearings, even though emotions may still run high. Thereis someevidence that the processof historicalreconciliation is indeedgoing forward in Centralia.The NationalRegister nominations withstoodthe scrutiny of threepublic hearings and extensive commentary in the press.I am not awarethat the CentraliaChronicle itself took an editorialstand on the nominations,but one of its regularcolumnists did. Nominationof the twosites would be "anappropriate and symbolic way," thecolumnist argued, "to face up to what happened, and to put it in the past" after72 years. In his view, Centralia had gained a dubious reputation as "one of the lastplaces, at leastin the North,where a lynchingcould go unpunished,"and it wastime to facethe past"with a morebalanced point of view."liAs a resultof allthe publicity, people have approached the county museumin nearbyChehalis with offers to donateartifacts connected with the eventsof 1919.Whether the boardof directorsof the museumwill eventuallypermit an exhibitis not yet known-orwhat the interpretive focusof sucha hypotheticaldisplay might be. Withoutquestion much remains to be done,just from the standpoint of historicpreservation. The building that occupies the site of theold I.W.W. hallcould be acquiredby a nonprofitgroup and converted into a Labor

17. Centralia Chronicle,August 14, 1991. HISTORY,HE WROTE * fi3

HistolyMuseum of the Northwest,although Centralia may have too many ghostsfor labor to be interestedin rememberingthe sitein thisway. Other preservationprojects could acknowledge the pastthrough nomination of additionalArmistice Day sites to the NationalRegister of HistoricPlaces, establishmentof an ArmisticeDay historicdistrict or preparationof a historicwalking tour brochure that retraces the route of theparade and the locationof significanthistoric buildings and events. Some identification of thecity intersection where the violence began also seems appropriate. The year1994 represents the seventy-fifthanniversary of the events,a poten- tiallyuseful occasion for furtherefforts at reconciliation.Ultimately, of course,the final chapters in the Centralia storywill have to be writtenby the communityitself. They cannot be writtenby outsiders.lS

The Challens of Public Hzstory in a Comm1lnitywith a Secret

Thatsthe goodnews. The strategyof reconciliationinspired publicity andgood debate, and it revealedconsiderable willingness within the com- munityto approachthe past openly. But the flurryof LaborDay headlines andtelevision stories probably overstated the realityof reconciliationand acknowledgment.Whether journalists realized it ornot, the operative verb in their reportswas <

The Power of the Past. Forthose of us familiarwith the boredfices of undergraduatescompelled to completesurvey courses in American history, it is usefulto recallthat people who live in communitieswith secrets know that histoxymatters. For Centralians,the past has powerbecause it is dangerous.They care enough about history to fearit. They expend energy to hideit. 18. From one perspective,the entexpriseof public histoIy can be seen as a fbrm of communityorganizing in which practicingprofessionals equip residentamateurs with the historicaltools for producingmeaningful history of good quality.The multiple-property nominationdocument prepared for this projectwas designedto allowCentralia citizens to placeadditional properties associated with the ArmisticeDay events on the NationalRegister. To date there has been no communityinterest. For a discussionof anotheractivist approach to laborand communityhistoIy, see JamesR. Green "Workers,Unions, and the Politicsof PublicHistoly" The P2oblicHistorisn 11 (Fall 1989), 11-38. 64 * THE PUBLICHISTORIAN

Thedangers of historywere clear to oneresident old enough to rememberthe eventsof 1919.He readabout the NationalRegister nominations andwas inspired to writeangrily to the localnewspaper, 'Whoever resur- rectedthe ideaof makingthe ArmisticeDay Massacre [a site]of historic importanceshould be committedwithout further ado." For this citizen, forgettingthe pastseemed like a completelynatural process that should simplybe allowedto occur: "It will take a lot of generationsbefore that event is forgotten.Right or wrong,it's best relegatedto a burnpile.... The Massacreshould be quietlylost in theback pages." Some people wanted to believethat the community had already transcended its controversial past. "Timehas really healed this wound on the soul of Centralia,"a local editor assureda visitingreporter. Here the assumptionseemed to be thatthe collectivesilence had spawned aform of hard-won equanimity, and that this equilibriumought to be permittedto continue.From this perspective, dredgingup old memoriescould only be disruptiveand destructive. But anotherCentralia citizen used the analogy of a naturaldisaster to makehis pointthat this disremembering was an inadequate resolution: "If a meteor hit in 1919and it left a big potholeout herein the fieldsomeplace and peoplesaid, 'Where in heckdid thatmeteor land?' and we said,'What meteor?' well,they'd think we were fools, right? So we needto saywhere themeteor hit." For him, "the cover-up was more disastrous to ourcommu- nitythan what actually happened.''l9 Eventhose who wanted more illumination of Centralia'scontroversial historyoffered cautionary words about the intensityof feelingsthat might be unleashedby the NationalRegister project. An aviddefender of the Wobblyrole in theevent instructed me to enclosea checkfor $1,000 when I submittedthe nominations to thecity of Centralia:that way the city could affordto keepThe Sentinel free of thegraffiti that were sure to be inspired as a resultof thepublicity. In hisview, the symbolismof the statueand its linkwith the bloodshedstill carried sufficient currency to incitepolitical vandalism.To friends of labor,historic Centralia continued to be something of a metaphorfor the modern community. A labor historian sympathetic to theundertaking warned of "veIy deep waters ." He recounted the hostility he hadencountered in thetown on a recentunion march (unconnected with markingthe ArmisticeDay events). While neighboring towns had been warmand friendly, he reported,in Centraliathe marchers were greeted by plainclothes police and warnings to get off the mainstreet. A former residentwrote to commendthe project but noted that in Centralia newspa- pers,"editorials and published letters from readers frequently advocate forceas a vehiclefor problem solving and are consistently anti-labor." Perhapsthe most vivid example ofthe idea that history is dangerous isthe statuecommemorating the events in thetown square. The creators of The

19. CentraliaChronicle, September 18, 1991, August 31, 1991; WeekendEdition, National Public Radio, November 10, 1991. HISTORY,HE WROTE * 65

Sentinelintended the bronzefigure and the inscriptionsof the pedestalto setstraight the historical record once and for all. But the statue appears now as a monumentquite different from what its makersintended. From the perspectiveof today,The Sentinel resembles the artand sculpture erected afterWorld War II in the SovietUnion and Eastern Europe to commemo- ratethe wardead and sing the praisesof the workerrevolution. While worldsapart in politicalvalues, Soviet advocates of officialart and the proponentsof the Centraliamonument shared a commoninterest in con- scriptingthe memories of thedead for ideological service in thepresent. As politicalarchitecture and an effortat revisionisthistory, the Centralia cenotaphtestifies to a fearthat the pasthas power.

The Ownershipof History. Historiansmay debatefine inteIpretive pointswith their peers at professional meetings, but in communitieswhere thepast has power, histoIy is contestedin a quitedifferent way. Here history inspirespassion and possessiveness, and historical debates take on a parti- sanshiprooted in bothindividual and collective identity. The assumption is thata communityor group who were historical participants authors of the past-enjoysome right of copyrightthat gives them control over the "fair use"of the past.In CentraliaI observed two different claims to ownership ofthepast. In both instances, ownership was asserted through opposition to the nominations. Theview of whatmight be calledold-line residents was evident in the opinionsof publicofficials and private citizens who opposed "dredging up" the past.One member of the citycouncil who was particularly vocal in her oppositionto placementof the siteson the NationalRegister complained, "Thisis prettydark stuff about Centralia." She argued that the interpreta- tionin thenomination document was slanted to makethe city look bad. She threatenedto haveher constituentsturn out at the statereview board to blockthe nomination.20 In fact,no Centraliaresident spoke in oppositionwhen the nextpublic meetingconvened. Instead, a passionatedenunciation came from an unex- pectedquarter. I had anticipated the old-line view and opposition from the keepersof Centralia'simage; I didnot anticipate misgivings from a 20-year memberof the I.W.W.who had made the trip from Tacoma to wonderwhy the nominationwas necessary, to objectto the interpretationand research inthe document (I hadnot embraced the I.W.W. party line), and ultimately to questionmy motives in theproject (she feared commercialization of the WesleyEverest gravesite, which she regardedas a laborshrine). Ironically,her primary objection focused on anissue about which I had struggledhard to steeran even-handed course: the namethat has come to identifythe eventsof 1919.It is not widelyunderstood that "Centralia Massacre"is a partisanterm for the events of November11, 1919. The term 20. Centralia Chronicle,August 14, 1991. 66 * THE PUBLICHISTOR1AN gainedcurrency in the nationalpress soon afterwards, when anti-radical sentimentwas high. Pamphleteers on the Right seized on the term because it madetheir case simply and vividly: four parading veterans were slaugh- teredon the streetsof Centralia,promiscuously and ruthlessly. It wasa massacrefrom the perspectiveof the AmericanLegion. Pamphleteers on the Lefthad less successin the ensuingsemantic campaigns. They tried "CentraliaIncident," "Armistice Day Tragedy,""Centralia Conspiracy," and "CentraliaHorror," but none firedthe imaginationlike Centralia Massacre. In an effortto steera neutralcourse in the nominationpackage, I had jettisonedthe term"Centralia Massacre" for the phrase"Centralia Armi- sticeDay Riot of 1919."My I.W.W. critic pointed out that"riot" wasn't muchof animprovement, inher opinion, since a "noisy,violent outbreak of disorder"didn't describe aplanned attack by leading citizens on a handful of unionmembers. It wasa conspiracyand should be identifiedas such,she argued.A fascinatingsemantic discussion followed about (a) the utilityof employingthe historicterm since it hadtaken on a life of its ownand (b) whetherchanging the name altered the history of theevent. The discussion wasperceptive and stimulating. Unfortunately, the advisory council devised a ratherprosaic, bureaucratic resolution. Those who have reason to lookup the nominationwill findit filedas "TheCentralia Armistice Day 1919 Multiple-PropertyDocumentation Form." Attemptsto characterizethe NationalRegister project were as much assertionsof ownershipas effortsto affixa suitablename. As the stoly unfolded,the projectand the historicalinterpretation in the nomination documentwere variously (and paradoxically) labeled anti-Centralia, anti- Wobbly,and pro-labor. People of allpolitical stripes and opinions tried to castthe project in a negativelight as a wayto dismissit. In the end,these werefighting words rooted in a desireto ownand control the past,not simplydisagreements about the nuances of a historicalinterpretation.

TheLegitimacy of PublicHistory in the LaborCommunity. Something elsestmck me about the concerns expressed by the I.W.W. member in her denunciationof the nomination.She was suspicious about the whole process.Although I had solicited her comments on the draft nomination during the planningphase and she spokeat the statereview proceedings at my invitation,it was clear that this individual, as sheadmitted at the meeting, didnot really know what the NationalRegister of HistoricPlaces was. She fearedthe worst."Is someone planning to dig WesleyEverest up?" she wantedto know.2lIn part her suspicions may have been connected with the specificcircumstances of the local legacy. Partisan feelings have been kept aliveso long because of theunpunished lynching, the dubious conditions of

21. Centralia Chronicle,August 24, 1991. HISTORY,HE WROTE * 67 theWobbly trial, and the subsequent decades of silence.From her perspective,why should there suddenly be a formaleffort to rememberthe past? Whatwas going on? The attitudeof suspicionabout the NationalRegister, though, is con- nectedto a broaderpoint that transcends local circumstance. Public history, and historicpreservation in particular,lack legitimacy within the labor community.22After all, unions and working people are not the traditional constituenciesof the preservationmovement or the heritagebureaucracy. Historicpreservation is perceived as elitistand irrelevant. Preservationists havepreferred historic sites that were aesthetically pleasing, conveniently celebratory,and blandly patriotic to thosethat reflect controversy or trouble the conscience.23Often, of course,the latterare placesassociated with conditionsand events in Americanlabor history. While a new agendaof inclusivenessand a commitmentto diversityseem, finally, to haveattracted notice amongmovers and shakersin the preservationmovement, the traditionalimage persists in the publicmind. For those who would like to see moresocial history infuse the NationalRegister and a broadersocial agendainspire the preservation movement, it is clearthat more needs to be doneto reacha wideaudience.24 Publichistorians reaching out to nontraditionalconstituencies must also contendwith the dilemma that heritage has become a bureaucraticprocess. Assuch it remainsmysterious and arcane to anyonewho does not work for a heritageagency or a historicalconsulting firm. Even the relativelysimple functioningof the NationalRegister of HistoricPlaces confounds and intimidates,and most Americans regularly equate a listingon the National Registerwith a publiclyowned historic site. During the reviewprocess on the Centralianominations, for example, it wasclear that even members of thelocal historical commission were unfamiliar with the purposes, require- ments,and consequencesof a NationalRegister listing. The heritage bureaucracyis a boonto professionalconsultants who can make a livingby interpretingregulations to clients,but its complexitiesalso frustrate and disenfranchisemany people to whompreservation should be makingits appeal.

The Mirror Effiect.Even citizens who expressed dismay at how the events of 1919had been neglectedin Centralia andwho professed a desireto

22. I shouldnote thatlabor historians at the regionallabor history association were quite supportiveof the Centralianominations. 23. A similarpoint is offeredabout historical markers and recent publications in "roadside history"by Robin W. Winks,"Public Historiography," The Public Historian 14 (Summer 1992),93-105. 24. The NationalPark Service is embarkingon a three-yearplanning study designed to add newunits to the NationalPark System associated with American labor history. If implemented properlyand funded adequately, the projectshould give considerable visibility and impetus to historicpreservation efforts within the laborcommunity. 68 * THEPUBLICHISTORIAN lookinto the dark corners of communityhistoxy havehad trouble accept- ingthe paston its ownterms. When local revisionists have researched the eventsof 1919,most have discovered a mirror: reflections of themselves and modernsituations, rather than historical participants and historical circum- stances.Let me mentiona coupleof examples. Onelocal business leader has been quite interested in acknowledging the controversialhistory of Centraliaas part of hisefforts to promoteheritage tourism(and sales at an antique mall and nearby factory outlet). He finds the boosterimage of Centraliaas "thecity of historicalmurals" distorting and hasoffered an exterior wall of a downtownbuilding for a muralabout the Wobblies,but no one has yet taken up the offer. To his way of thinking,the tragediesof 1919need to be pairedwith a morecelebratory chapter in local history,the stotyof the AfricanAmerican who founded Centralia in the nineteenthcentury. This perspective permits him to seecommunity history as unfoldingfrom tolerant beginnings rich with opportunities, and the intoleranceand bloodshed of 1919become a historicalaberration rather thana definingmoment in communityidentity. It's a cleverinterpretive juxtapositionrooted in realreflection about local histoxy and a genuine interestin talkingabout the Massacreas a partof localheritage. (He is a transplantedCalifornian with only a recentconnection to thecommunity. ) Notlong ago, in conjunctionwith the city,he printeda brochureentitled <'HistoryLives on in Centralia: The Northwest's Vintage Shopping Center," whichprominently featured a shorthistory of the "CentraliaMassacre," witha mapthat includes the NationalRegister sites among other points of historicinterest. The text of the brochurespeaks of the NationalRegister listingsas rekindling,rather than resolving, the historicalcontroversy, a pointthat emphasizes the continuing"mystery"that surrounds the "dis- puted"event. Conversation reveals, though, that this Centralian is commit- tedto whatmight be calleda "happyface" view of thevalue of thepast. He wantshistoryto have a messagebut not a messageof despair. He has no time forwhat the events of 1919say about intolerance and injustice nor analogies withthe present in thisvein. Themore positive assessment of theWobblies has been possible among localrevisionists because the Wobblies are viewed as the victims rather than the perpetratorsof the violence.But the revisionistview often strips the Wobbliesof theirhistorical reality. I've heard any number of conversations inwhich the I.W.W. is characterizedasjust another trade union, working to reformindustrial conditions in toughtimes. Absent in thesediscussions is anyreal understanding of the philosophyor tacticsof the I.W.W.or the historicalcontext in which Wobblies operated. In addition,a curioussense of personalidentification seems to explainthe appeal of Wesley Everest for the ruggedindividualists of Lewis County, Washington. Several Centralia citizensimagine they see evidenceof theirown modern libertarian politics in Everest'slife. HISTORYHE WROTE * 69

In thisand other ways, the past is beingcelebrated through a processof de-radicalizingthe Wobbliesto makethem fit for modernconsumption. Ironically,those who know something of theunion's genuine radicalism are likelyto be onthe other side of thecontroversy, retrospectively applauding the attemptat suppressionin 1919.(Here could be one reasonfor the continuedresistance to remembrance:communist paranoia may be too recenta nationalmemory for Centraliato welcomecommemoration of a bunchof northwesternWobblies-even though the NationalRegister processwas going forward as the Communist Party was struggling to survive in the SovietUnion.) Scholars like Carlos Schwantes argue that historians havebeen too fascinated by the roleof radicalismand violence in the labor historyof the PacificNorthwest, but in the caseof Centralia,this is the essenceof the story.25To de-radicalizethe Wobbliesis to missthe point aboutwhy the Centralia marchers (and later the mob) responded as they did andwhy the Red Scare was a nationalphenomenon, not confined to western Washington.

Reverberations

Asthe National Register hearings were running their course in the public arenain thesummer of 1991 a relatedeffort at historical reconciliation was quietlyunderway elsewhere. It came to a head earlyin 1992 when a controversyerupted over whether the city should permit a pro-laborplaque to be placedin thetown square next to thelegionnaire statue. The designer of the proposedplaque was a studentat CentraliaHigh School who had researchedthe events of 1919as a classproject and then entered a statewide 'HistoIyDay" contest, in whichshe wasselected as one of ten winners. Prize-winnerswere to receivemarble markers related to their histoIy papers,courtesy of a Seattlemonument maker, and the Centraliastudent offeredhers to thecity. The city council voted to acceptthe giftin January 1992,and a fire stormof protestfollowed, making the studentand her designthe object of considerablecontroversy. As the debate has cooled, the studentherselfhas been recognized bythe local chapterofthe Daughters of the AmericanRevolution for her accomplishmeIltsin historical research andeven crowned Miss Lewis County for 1993.26 Thecontroversy focused on boththe content and the proposed location forthe plaque. The design featured a hangman'srope noose, a handholding a clawhammer, and text describing the importanceof unionsin securing gainsfor workers. The student intended to be provocative,using the noose

25. CarlosA. Schwantes,"The Pacific Northwest Working Class and its Institutions. An HistonographicalEssay,l' in DavidH. Strattonand George A. FIykman(eds. ), TheChanging PacificNorthwest (Pullman: Washington State University Press, 1988), 117-28. 26. CentraliaChronicle, Januaxy 22, 1992,JanuaIy 29, 1992,April 24, 1992,April 26, 1993; Minutesof the CentraliaHistorical Commission, October 9, 1991. 70 * THEPUBLICHISTORIAN to suggestvigilante violence and the handwith hammerto represent Americanworkers, but the symbolism was both muddled and inflammatory. Hercritics maintained that the imageof the noosewas obnoxious and in poortaste. Although the name of theIynching victim appeared nowhere on the proposedplaque, the noosewas widely interpreted as an attemptto memorializeWesley Everest. Why honor "somebody that cold-bloodedly killeda veteran?'one citizenwanted to know.In an unusualminority opinion,a memberof the localhistorical commission announced that he likedthe noose because the mob should have hanged more of the Wobblies. The clawhammer was less controversialthan the noose,but it too was criticizedin the press. A claw hammer isthe tool of a carpenter, one resident pointedout. The lumberjacksand millworkersof westernWashington wouldhave used the "double-bitted ax,the 'misery whip,' the pike pole and the peavey.Would we wantvisitors to thinkwe don'tknow that?" he wondered.27 Thewording on the plaquealso came in for criticism.Citizens com- plainedthat the text was ahistorical, misleading, and inaccurate, and profes- sionalhistorians would probably agree. The wording implied that World WarI representeda watershedin Americanlabor history and that the impactof the Centralia Massacre had been to securefor workers "an 8 hour day,Social Security, Worker's Compensation, Occupational Health and Safety,and Job Security" gains that came much later or, in thecase of job security,have never been attained. In her defense, the prose was so poorly writtenit wasdifficult to knowwhat was actually intended.28 Theproper location for the markerattracted as muchattention as the inflammatoryimages and the ahistorical text. Because the student wanted to stimulatepublic discussion, she urgedthat her plaque be placedpromi- nentlyin the town square, next to the memorial to the slain legionnaires. The localhistorical commission had attemptedto locatethe plaqueon the outskirtsof townat the WesleyEverest gravesite, but the city council overruledthis choiceand ratified the student'spreference. (Some sug- gestedthat the plaque belonged at a siteassociated with the actual violence, like the demolishedI.W.W. hall or the site of the bridgeused for the lynching,or even hidden away at the high school where the young artist was a student.)Many agreed with the citizen who argued that the location near TheSentinel helped visitors to "see that there are two sides to this story," but objectionsto thiscivic prominence were numerous. Although the pro-labor

27. The quotescan be foundin the CentraliaChronicle, February 12,1992, January 31, 1992;see alsothe issuesof January22, 1992,Januaxy 28, 1992,February 4, 1992. 28. The student'stext read: "During WWI the revolutionof the laborunions took place in Americaand all around the world. Incidents like the CentraliaMassacre touched the way of life all acrossthe country,helping to bringabout changes that would transform our economy foreverinto the world power we knowit astoday. Because people in the unionsbelieved in, and werewilling to die for,the rightof equalitybetween the working class and their employers, the dreamthat they sharedof an 8 hourday, Social Security, Worker's Compensation, Occupa- HISTORY,HEWROTE * 71 messageof the plaquementioned neither the I.W.W.nor Wesley Everest, it wasunderstood in somequarters to be a memorialto redsand killers. It wasdisrespectful to thememoxy ofthe slain legionnaires; it rehabilitated the reputationof a bunchof Bolshevikswhile insulting "respectable" labor unions;and it memorializedsomeone who "gotwhat he had comingto

. ,,G zlm. fiv Despitethe muddledsymbolism and misleading prose, some citizens thoughta pro-laborplaque was a goodidea. <'If Centralia is everto livedown the shameof the massacre,it mustput asidethe past and give proper recognitionto Everestand the Wobblies.They have their place in this town'shistory.... What's it goingto bevCentralia or Lynchville?" one asked, pointingto the silenceabout the unpunishedIynching of 1919.After a monthof heateddebate in its pagesXthe CentraliaChronicle suggested a consensusplaque for the town square that was ('carefully and diplomatically worded,limited to knownfacts only." The editorial tactfully implied that it wastime to abandonthe studentproposal.30 In the controversyover the plaquevthe communityresponded as it had withthe NationalRegister nominations, with a degreeof officialopenness andsupport, affirmations about the needfor historical reconciliation, but alsostrong emotions about the dangersof the past.At the least,this lively debateillustrated that historical markers matter. It's a simplepoint but perhapsone worth making for those of uswho scoff at the quality of markers on ourtravels across the countty(my family calls them "hysterical markers").It is clearthat in a placewhere the pasthas power, a debateover the designof a commemorativeplaque can be rootedin deepfeelings about the ownershipof histoxyand community identit. Andin a societywhere many citizensview histoxy as irrelevantto the conductof publicaffairs where the pastseems to provideonly an entertainingcollection of factoidsfor parlorgames and televisionshows-it is usefulto be remindedabout strugglesto stampmeaning on the past. In addition, one must marvel at how aneffort of thecaliber of thestudent's could get as faras it did.Perhaps the seriousconsideration it received was a reflectionof a genuinedesire to live up to the nationalheadlines that had promised Centralia was "confronting its secretpast." It wouldbe ironicindeed if the communityimagined itself backedinto a cornerby the National Register process and felt compelled to acknowledgeits darkpast through this flawed commemoration. For public historians,the debatealso raised questions about the processof evaluation tionalHealth and Safety,and Job Security, has been accomplished,and in factis nowa reality in the livesof theirchildren." For a sketchof the textand twin images, as well as commentaty, see CentraliaChronicle, January 27, 1992,Janualy 30, 1992,and Februaly 7, 1992.A regional historyorganization has expressedinterest in rewordingthe plaque. 29. The quotescan be foundin the CentraliaChronicle, February 11, 1992,February 4, 1992,February 12, 1992. See alsothe issuesof February15, 1992, February18, 1992. 30. CentraliaChronicle, FebruaIy 19, 1992,February 25, 1992. 72 * THEPUBLICHISTORIAN andthe natureof qualitycontrol at "HistoryDay" gatherings across the country,a subjectthat might be exploredfruitfully with a nationalsample. Oneresponse to the plaquecontroversy, though, suggested that some segmentsin the community were hunkering down, in anticipation offurther assaultson thecommemorative meaning of thetown square. In thespring of 1993,the setting for The Sentinel was redesigned in a rathersignificant way.Through construction of the "FreedomWalk," a broadconcrete promenadethat linked the statue in the midstof thepark-like square with the street,The Sentinelwas given even moreprominence than before. Placedalong the promenadewas a granitetablet that announcedthe FreedomWalk was a county-widememorial to the menand women who haddied in allAmerican wars since World War I. Onone level,the new constructionrepresented an appropriate and perhaps overdue recognition oftheveterans of LewisCounty, Washington. Within the context of commu- nityhistoIy and recent debates, though, the Freedom Walk can also be seen as an imaginativeeffort to de-politicizethe symbolismof a controversial publicspace. From this perspective the memorial walkway represented an attemptto renewthe legitimacyof TheSentinel by associatingit with the patrioticsacrifices of otherwars. Instead of commemoratinga problemati- cal episodeof urbanviolence, the statuecelebrated twentieth-century patriotismgenerally. As a consequence,it is nowdifficult to argue,as the highschool student did, that "the other side" ought to be markedin the interestsof"historical balance," since the messageproclaimed from the squarecan be characterizedasapolitical rather than partisan. In effectthe townsquare has been transformedfrom contested terrain into patriotic ground.One has to be carefulnot to readtoo muchinto a projectlike the veteranswalkway, but it doesseem clear that much of therecent debate in Centraliaabout the pasthas centered on meanings,symbols, and ways to construecivic identity. In thislight, the newFreedom Walk suggests that thejourney toward historical reconciliation remains unfinished. In a stoxylike this, one comesto wondereventually about the issueof collectiveresponsibility for historical burdens. Many outsiders who learn aboutthe violence of l919 in Centraliatalk in theseterms. Some are even movedto drawfar-fetched analogies to comprehendthe historicalsignifi- cance.The Seattle reporter who gathered interviews for the National Public Radiostory on the NationalRegister nominations, for example,became intriguedby theproblem of guiltand atonement and wondered about the usefulnessof ananalogy between the Holocaust and Centralia. Another has suggestedan analogywith modern Vienna, where in 1988,government mountedelaborate historical markers to remindcitizens and visitors about Austriancollaboration with Nazis fifty years previously. Centralia is cer- tainlynot Vienna,and the so-calledMassacre was emphatically not the Holocaust.But the point is that outsiders (and many residents) seem to want somethingfrom Centralia that it is notprepared to supply:a publicapology HISTORY,HE WROTE * 73

forthe unpunished mob violence, an expression of remorsefor the decades of silence,an acknowledgmentsimply of whathappened in 1919.While Centraliatoday may not wishto be linkedwith the historicalevents that occurredthere, the past has a habitof surviving.Even in totalitarian societieswhere official efforts are made to rewritethe historical record, the pastresurrects itself, sometimes in unexpectedways. Cities may not be able to erasetheir pasts, but theydo havesome choice in howthe historical legacyis interpreted.It is thisact of interpretationthat helps define the identityof a community,for residents and outsiders alike. Theremay be roomfor optimism about the processof historicalrecon- ciliationin Centralia notbecause of whatis happeningin Centralia,but becauseof whathas happened in othercommunities with dark pasts that seemto be ableto acknowledgetheir histories. In 1992, Salem,Massachu- settsmarked the 300thanniversary of the witcherafttrials that hanged 19 peopleand crushed one to death.Among other forms of commemoration was an effortto educatevisitors about persecution and injustice.The NationalCivil Rights Museum that opened in 1991in Memphisin the motel whereDr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated also suggests a pathfor Centraliato consider.A darkchapter in Memphishistory has provided a forumfor an important set of exhibitson the civilrights movement. Part of the localstory in Centraliais howcommunity history fits into the national pattern.The Armistice Dayviolence was an expression ofthe Red Scare that coincidedwith wartime fears of subversionand thatcontinued into the postwaryears. The events are a powerfulillustration of the wayswartime passionscan go awryand create conditions where violence, prejudice, and vindictivenessprevail. If the experiencesof Salemand Memphis are any guide,perhaps the most enduring legacy of the Centralia events is thelesson it couldoffer Americans about the utilityof nonviolence,tolerance, and justicein a diversesociety. It is hardto imaginea moretimely or positive messagefor the latetwentieth century.